


There Will Never Be Another You

by Daretodream66



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, BAMF Peggy Carter, BAMF Pepper Potts, BAMF Phil Coulson, BAMF Steve Rogers, BAMF Tony Stark, I love Maria Hill in the MCU, M/M, Mpreg, Never done this before with the ABO, Peggy Carter is Tony Stark's Godparent, She's my scapegoat in this, Tony Stark Has A Heart, True Mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-01-23 00:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 29,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18538987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daretodream66/pseuds/Daretodream66
Summary: Steve/Bucky mated and married, then Bucky went off the side of the train and Steve went down in the plane.  We all know that, but things get complicated when Steve's thawed.  This may feel OOC for Steve, but if this were the world he woke up in, I think some of this would hold.





	1. Prologue (cause we have to set the historical background)

**Author's Note:**

> This is the only time that I've written a ABO and it was just a whim about a year and a half ago. It sat on my computer with all the other stories. I opened up the file last week and started flushing it out and came up with this. This story doesn't have an ending, but I'm hoping that as I revise and edit and ending will present itself.

By the time scientists acknowledged that there was a problem, it was 1957. There had been whispers about it decades and decades before, but nothing that the general populace took seriously. How could something that devastating happen in an advanced society?  So, for many it stayed brushed under the rug, but some scientists kept working on it in secret.

When they started collecting data on births, the issue they found, started well before the turn of the 20th Century.  By 1972, it simply became the way life was now. There may have been one or two, here and there, but they were kept secreted away by family.  Eventually, there just weren’t any more. The older generations, especially those from World War II told stories about them, but the younger generations treated it like stories of Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster.  Fun to hear, but unbelievable at the same time.  Tony was one of those that had trouble believing, but all that came to an end the day the file was delivered.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They find Steve and some character background.

Margaret “Peggy” Carter, or Aunt Peggy, didn’t trust many people and even though she helped found SHIELD, she didn’t trust who they were or what the agenda was anymore. When the founder can’t get straight answers out of the current Director, things weren’t on the up and up.  So, instead of having the file delivered to someone like Nick Fury, whom she didn’t trust, she had it sent to Tony.  She knew, very well, his feelings on the subject of the file, but had to trust that he would trust her.  Tony was reckless, but at his heart a good man.  Something Peggy had always known, contrary to what Howard believed.  But after watching the video and reading the file, Tony was a man whose whole belief system was ripped out from under him. He didn't contact Peggy about the file because of the sensitivity of the contents.  She presented the information to him in a straightforward way, which he appreciated, so he had to go on blind faith that he had a job to do.

But he was also a man of honor, who had been entrusted with a devastating secret that could not, under any circumstances get out, he didn’t tell anyone and had JARVIS secure the file and rewrote the security software for Stark Tower. It took months and months of careful planning and implementing, but if what was in that file came to pass, he had a duty to his Aunt Peggy and a man he spent his life hating.  He didn’t even tell Pepper and she knew all of his secrets.  But not this one.  No one could know this one.

And none of this would have been a big deal, except a year later they did find Steve Rogers and he was still alive. They brought his body, originally thought to be dead, to the SHIELD office in Manhattan.  By the time Peggy got the call from Fury her mole, inside SHIELD, had already let her know.  She called Tony and told him to bring the red file and he better hurry.  He needed to be waiting when the transport came in.

Before Fury could lock the Captain down in SHIELD, Tony presented him with the file from THE Peggy Carter and took possession of Captain America. It was a fight, but Tony wouldn’t back down, just the way Aunt Peggy had taught him.  Captain Rogers was still frozen, but Tony walked out of SHIELD headquarters with the body of Captain America.  He winked at the blond agent watching the proceedings.  He knew that Fury was having him followed and called on JARVIS to implement security protocols that he’d written into the AI months ago.  Fury was irate, but could do nothing.  The documents overrode any claim that Fury thought he had.   What Fury couldn’t figure out was the why.  Why did that Carter woman want the Captain’s body so bad and what role was Stark playing in all this?  He thought after the Avengers Initiative he had control of that situation, but today proved that wrong.  It wasn’t going to stop him from knowing every move that Stark made with the Captain.

“Agent 13.”

“Yes sir.”

“Hack Stark Tower. I want 24 hour surveillance on Captain Rogers.”

“Yes sir.” She turned and smirked knowing that she wouldn’t be able to hack anything.  She’d spent months trying at Stark’s insistence.  Fury knew many things that he shouldn’t, but still didn’t know who her Aunt was.


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revelations

When they arrived back at Stark Tower, Pepper was waiting with a million questions that Tony refused to answer. He locked himself and the Captain in the only room he felt completely secure in. Tony’s lab was set up with a system to thaw the man.  It was hours and many cups of coffee later that JARVIS informed him that the procedure was successful.  Tony removed him from the unit and injected him with the sedative formulated for his metabolism.  That would keep him under for awhile.  Tony didn’t know what he was going to say to the man and needed time to think this through.  He personally transported him to the floor below the lab for easy access having all hallways cleared and the security feeds disabled.  None of this could get out.  No one could know, not even Stark Towers security team.

Once on the floor Tony had designated as Steve’s, he sighs heavily. Pepper looks at him questioningly.  “JARVIS, activate protocol Artifact 7.”

‘Protocol activated, sir. Shall I order supplies for Captain Rogers?’

“Yeah J and thanks.” Tony was exhausted; finally having come down from the adrenalin rush of the day.

‘Of course, sir.’

Pepper looked around the floor, realizing that it was furnished and had a homey feel. “Tony, when did you do this?”

Tony stands by the window, looking out at the city that he loves so much and wonders just how bad it’s going to get. “Pepper, I know there are times you don’t trust me, but I really need you to trust me right now.”  She comes to stand next to him.  He looks at her and there are tears in his eyes.  “Please, don’t tell anyone what you see or hear for as long as he’s here and that might be for a very long time.”

She just nods and puts her head on his shoulder. She doesn’t understand, but she’s also never seen Tony like this, so it’s easy to promise him anything he needs.  His arm slips around her waist and they watch the city keep moving.  With no idea how long they stand in silence, the lift dings and the doors slide open. 

Peggy Carter is 94 years old and walks with a cane, but she still has the bearing of a woman of grace and class. Tony hugs her close and she returns it with just as much fervor.  “Where is he?”

Tony points at the bedroom door and she slowly makes her way over. Tony and Pepper follow, but stay in the doorway as she goes to the bed, sitting down.  Reaching out, she brushes his hair away from his forehead.  “He looks just the same.”  There’s a melancholy smile on her face.

Tony has been holding in so much for the year that he’s known, he finally has to ask. “What will they do to him if they get their hands on him?”

Peggy hangs her head clasping Steve’s hand to her breast. “It is my hope that they will abide by the law and leave him alone, but I doubt they will.”

“What law? What could possibly protect him?”

Peggy pulls the collar of the tee shirt aside, so the scar is visible. “A mating claim.”

Tony goes to the bed and sure enough, there’s the bite. “I don’t understand.  I didn’t think that you and he…”

He doesn’t finish because she starts laughing. “He came to us at Camp Lehigh already marked.  He was claimed when he was 16.”

Tony opens and closes his mouth several times before finally getting the question out. “That’s not in the files.  Who is the alpha?”

“Sergeant James Buchannan Barnes. His sweet, attentive Bucky.”  Tears fall from Peggy’s eyes, down her cheek and onto her wrist.  Tony has never seen his Aunt Peggy so emotional and it’s disconcerting.  “JARVIS?”

‘Yes, Director Carter?’

“Can you run a scan? I need to confirm something.”  She stands and moves away from the bed, wrapping her arm around Anthony.

‘Of course.’ The scan is run and Peggy waits.  ‘Director, it would appear that the fetus survived the freeze.’

“THE WHAT!” Tony’s day just keeps getting more and more confusing.

Peggy keeps watching the bed. “The night before Sergeant Barnes went off the side of that mountain, Steve went into heat.  We kept it private because he was our leader.  We thought the Commandos were going to have to complete the mission without him, but the next morning he was fine.”  She turns to Tony and Pepper, who hasn’t spoken once.  “There’s only one reason a heat ends that quickly, so I had my suspicions.”  She looks back at the bed.  “JARVIS, how far along is he?”

‘It appears the fetus is at 4 weeks.’

“We have to do whatever is necessary to make sure this pregnancy doesn’t terminate.” She turns back to Pepper.  “I’m going to depend on you Ms. Potts for this.  I love Anthony dearly, but he doesn’t exude calm.”

“I’m standing right here you know.” He’s smirking.  “Everything my dad made me believe about him and I find out that he’s nothing like what dear ole dad thought.”

“The funny thing is, before the serum, Howard didn’t think anything about him being an omega, but after, he was convinced that his designation changed.” She shook her head.  “I never could make him understand that this Steve, big Steve, wasn’t any different than he was before.  He was still quick to anger and always ready to fight.”  She chuckles.  “Bucky, Sergeant Barnes, used to call him his tiny tornado of fury, even after the serum.”

“With Sergeant Barnes gone, the baby is the only thing that will keep him stable.” It’s the first thing that Pepper has spoken.  Tony looks at her shocked because no one pays attention to omega biology anymore, because there aren’t any.  There’s a look that passes between Pepper and Peggy, one that Tony doesn’t understand, but it means these two know something that he doesn’t and that intrigues him.

“Yes, but he didn’t know about the baby, so when he took the Valkyrie into the ocean, he thought he would die anyway from the severed bond.” Pepper chokes on a sob and turns to leave the room.  Peggy frowns in compassion for the young woman.  Peggy knows that Pepper knows what’s really happening and that Tony is clueless.

“JARVIS, how long before the Captain wakes up?” Tony’s torn between staying with his Aunt Peggy and going after Pepper.  Whatever this bigger situation is, it has his friend grieving.

‘The sedatives in his system are burning out faster than calculated, approximately 2 hours and 47 minutes.’

Tony smirks. “Approximately.”  Shaking his head, he goes to find Pepper.  Peggy takes one last look at the bed and follows her nephew.


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve wakes up.

Pepper fixes dinner while Tony and Peggy talk quietly. Pepper doesn’t try to hear, the less she knows, the better.  The man in the bedroom is an icon, but now all she can see is the man.  Pulling the ingredients from the fridge, Pepper decides on something easy.  Looking back into the living room, she hopes that Peggy Carter won’t be offended by Cobb Salad Sandwiches.  Laughing at herself Pepper realizes that Peggy Carter probably won’t even care what is served. 

While the eggs boil, she turns to the skyline of a city that she loves, a city she can’t imagine leaving behind, then looks back in the direction of the bedroom. This is a city he loved too, with his mate, who is gone and he’s going to be alone.  When she was just a little girl, no older than 5, she sat by her great-grandmother’s bed and listened as she talked about love and belonging.  Until Pepper came to Stark Industries and started working for Tony, she didn’t know that feeling.  Meeting Tony was a revelation.  All the stories that her Nana had told made sense in the first few minutes of being in his office.  She’ll never tell him, but he’s her home.  They’ve built a strong, trusting friendship and she’ll never ruin that by telling him anything more. 

When she comes in with the sandwiches and tea, Peggy smiles. “Thank you dear.”  Pepper sits in an armchair and quietly eats.  Peggy watches her.  “How did you know?”

Pepper looks up stunned that she’s being addressed with questions. “My great-grandmother was an omega. She told me _things_ when I was younger.”

Peggy nods and Tony looks surprised. “I didn’t know that.”

“Well Tony, you didn’t think that omegas really existed until recently.” She gives him that patented ‘Pepper’s disappointed in you’ look.  Tony grins.

Peggy chuckles. “I would have paid good money to see the look on your face when you got my file.”

Tony would have made a snarky comment, except that’s when JARVIS interrupts. ‘Sir, Director Fury is trying to access this floor’s security.’

Tony barks out a laugh. “Well, let him try.”

Peggy looks concerned. “Are you sure he can’t get in?”

Tony pulls his phone out, tapping the screen. “J, is he having any luck?”

‘No sir, he is getting quite frustrated. His blood pressure has risen alarmingly.’  He pauses.  ‘I have gained access to his system sir, would you like me to monitor his communications?’

“I would like that very much.” They all jump when the bedroom door flies open and a very confused Steve Rogers comes threateningly into the room.  Omega or not, he’s an imposing figure.  The growl that comes from him is feral, so Pepper takes a deep breath and releases calm.

“Who the hell are you people and where am I?” He’s breathing hard and angry, but they can all see he’s terrified.

Peggy stands slowly and turns to Steve. “Steven, look closely, you know who I am.  You need to calm down.”

He looks suspiciously at her then his eyes fly open. “Peggy?”   He comes closer to her, hand raised to touch, but stops just short.  “Peggy, what happened?”

She giggles. “Well Steven, I got old.”  He shakes his head trying to clear the fuzziness away.  “And I was serious when I said you need to calm down.”

Peggy and Tony are alphas and the only reason he isn’t attacking is because it’s Peggy. Pepper is a beta and continues to exude calm pheromones into the room.  She steps forward, but not reaching out. “Captain Rogers, I know this is all hard to understand, but we are trying to protect you.”

He growls. “I can get by on my own.”

Pepper takes a chance and steps closer to him. “The thing is, you don’t have to.”  Steve’s face falls, the echo of those words ringing true in his ears.  Tears fill his eyes.

Tony smirks. “Come on Capsicle, calm down.”

Steve turns on him and the growl he lets loose is even more feral than the last. Peggy grabs his arm. “Steven Grant Barnes, if you don’t calm yourself down now, I will sedate you again.”

He’s still breathing heavy and Pepper goes to get water. Bringing it back, he takes it from her, seeming to trust her for some reason.  “No one in this room wants to hurt you.  Please believe me; all we want is for you to be safe.”

His shoulders sag in resignation. “Where am I?”

She takes his arm and leads him to the window. “You’re in Manhattan, in New York.”  He looks down and back at Pepper like she’s lying.  “It’s 2012 Captain.  You’ve been asleep for a long time.”

He nearly collapses, but catches himself on the window. “What?”  Then there’s a sob.  “I was supposed to die.  Why didn’t I die, it’s just going to take me slower now.”  He turns to Peggy whose eyes have misted over.  “He’s still gone?”

She nods. “But Steven, there’s more to it than that.”  He sinks down to the floor and unknowingly pulls Pepper with him.  She sits next to him and lets him cling to her hand.  “Do you remember when it happened?”  He nods and drinks the water slowly.  “The night before?  Your heat?”

“Peg, do ya have to tell the room all my secrets?” She smirks seeing a little of the man she knew so many years ago.

“If you remember that, then you remember that it had gone the next morning.” She sits on the couch facing him.  “Why would a heat dissipate that quickly?”  She waits for the reality to hit him.

He shakes his head like he doesn’t understand what she means; his head shoots up and he sees confirmation in her eyes. “I’m….”

She nods and asks JARVIS to project the scan. Steve jumps when the disembodied voice answers.  The projection has been enlarged and enhanced so he can see the tiny flutter of a heartbeat.  “You see Steven, you need to let us take care of you, so this little one can thrive.”

He pulls his legs under him and stands. Going to the projection the other three watch as different emotions play across his face.  He starts to reach out, but stops himself.  “He would have been a great dad, Peg.”  She goes to stand next to him.  “How do I do this without him?”

She puts a hand on his back rubbing comforting circles. “The same way you do everything, head on.”


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Building a pack.

They talk for the next several hours and Pepper fixes Steve something to eat. Peggy suggests more than an average person can eat because of his metabolism.  He eats while they talk, but the more they talk, the less hungry he is.  Peggy sees the play of emotions and knows that he’s processing.  The man that Pepper calls Tony, is quiet, watching him.

“So, let me get this straight, there aren’t omegas anymore?” They shake their heads.  “I’m the only one, but no one knows that I am because you hid that and if SHIELD, that used to be SSR, finds out, they’ll take me?”  That gets a round of nods.  “They’d take this baby from me too wouldn’t they?”  They don’t nod, but their silence is confirmation enough.  Steve looks up at Tony.  “What’s your story?”

“Well my dad was Howard Stark.” Steve’s eye’s bug out.  “Yeah, and this building that you’re going to be living in, is mine.  Dad did well for himself, but I did better.”  Steve can tell by the tone that there’s a story in that comment.  He looks to Peggy and she shrugs.  Pepper tries to be interested in a painting on the wall.  Yeah, there’s definitely a story there.

Steve looks at Peggy. “You didn’t marry Howard did you?”

She practically cackles at that. “God no, wash your mouth out just for saying it.”

Steve grins. “So what’s our plan?”  He’s not fighting them anymore because whatever they are doing is going to keep the baby safe and that has to be his first priority.

Pepper takes Steve’s plate. “We’re doing it.  For now, you stay here so they can’t get to you and we’ll come up with a game plan that we can all live with, together.”  She makes a point to add the ‘together’ because all of this hinges on Steve being okay with whatever happens.

“Yeah, what she said.” Tony goes to the drink cart and pours a scotch.  “Steve, can I call you Steve, how about Cap…yeah, I like that better…we’re not letting them take you.  I don’t care if I have to blow them out of the sky, they will not take you or the baby.”  There’s something about this guy that gives Tony pause.  His father lauded him as being a master tactician and Tony is sure that he is, but his willingness to trust them niggles at the back of his brain.

“Why are you doing this?” Steve’s not used to people without agendas: politicians, people in charge, the rich, they always want something.

“Because my Aunt Peggy asked me to and when my father died, I made a promise that I would always help the only other person that loved me besides my mother.” There’s bitterness in his words and Steve has to wonder what Howard did to this kid.  Yeah, Howard could be a dick, but would he really treat his own kid with contempt?

“What the ever loving fuck?” Steve’s protective nature comes out.  If this man is willing to go through all this for someone he doesn’t know, then he’s good and decent and whatever Howard did to him was reprehensible. 

Tony laughs. “Boy my dad didn’t know shit about you.  According to him, you would never curse.”

Steve barks a laugh. “Did he realize I was in the army?”  That makes Tony laugh even louder and Steve feels his nerves calm some.  Tony’s pheromones have been tentative at best, but now they exude delight. 

Peggy leaves not long after, Tony talks with the voice he calls JARVIS and Pepper shows Steve how to access information on the computer. “Anything you want to know you can ask JARVIS too.  If you’re tired and just need someone to talk to or to read to you, JARVIS can do that too.”  He shouldn’t be, but Steve’s tired and they notice.  “I’ll be back tomorrow morning to check on you, but you really should sleep.  At some point we are going to have a doctor come check you and the baby, but not until we have someone that we trust.” 

Steve takes her hand. “Thank you.”  His instincts tell him that Pepper is good and not just good, but for whatever reason, Steve matters to her.

Steve lays in bed a few nights later and thinks about everything he’s learned. He’s spent his days reading; from history to current events.  JARVIS fills in some gaps that he thinks are important.  Pepper tried to come down and spend a couple of hours every morning and evening.  He asks questions when he doesn’t understand something he’s read. 

Tony, who Steve learns is also someone called Iron Man, only comes up when Pepper is there. He finally admits it’s because he’s an alpha and doesn’t want to upset Steve.  He comes across as brash, but he’s a better man than his father ever was.  Tony cares about what he does and it isn’t that Howard didn’t care; he just got tunnel vision sometimes and forgot that there were people involved.  JARVIS tells Steve about Tony’s capture and eventual escape.  Steve is awed by the man’s determination to help now that Tony sees the whole picture.  Steve can tell by scent that Pepper loves Tony and he loves her, but he never sees any evidence of it in their behavior and they don’t seem to be aware of it.  Steve finds that curious, but doesn’t ask.  It isn’t his business.

What he doesn’t understand is how omegas could just disappear, but according to his reading and what Pepper and JARVIS tell him, it took generations and generations for it to happen. Steve is devastated by the fact that packs aren’t part of this society either.  They died out not long after omegas.  It makes him miss the Commandos even more.

He also finds out that SHIELD and its Director didn’t get a chance to find out that Steve’s an omega because Tony claimed guardianship of him before they could. Now they just want him because they want to use him.  Like so many others, in Steve’s day, they just see him as an asset.  Tony and Pepper both have repeated that it will happen over their dead bodies.

Steve’s biggest concern is the baby. It’s the only piece of Bucky that he has and he’s damn well going to take care of it.  He eats more than he probably should, but he also exercises every day.  The food now is so much better than in his day.  And the variety is staggering. 

Pepper comes down in his second week with a two mats and dressed more casually than Steve’s ever seen her. She introduces Steve to yoga.  He doesn’t think that he’ll like it, but it turns out, it quiets his mind.  Tony has a treadmill and punching bag brought in for him.  Tony installs the punching bag himself with the help of a robot that Steve finds fascinating.  When Tony sees how enthralled Steve is with that, he brings his Iron Man suit in and shows it to Steve, who acts like a kid on Christmas morning.

“You’re way smarter than your dad ever was.” Steve talks in a way that makes Tony think he doesn’t realize what he’s saying out loud.  “He was good, but he could never have conceived something like this.”

Tony grins because he was right the first day; his dad didn’t know a damn thing about this man. Steve asks intelligent questions about how everything works.  He shows concern over the arch reactor in Tony’s chest and Pepper gives her two cents worth on that subject.  Steve smells when Tony’s scent changes to one of embarrassment and elation at their concern. Howard made Tony believe that Captain America was just the army’s battering ram, but this man is smart, sarcastic, and so much of a little shit sometimes that Tony is impressed.

“I’m glad that someone recognizes my genius.” Steve looks up, willing to apologize for insulting Tony’s family, but the genuine smile on Tony’s face stops him.

“I’m just feeding your ego now, aren’t I?”

Tony winks. “Absolutely, so don’t let me stop you.”  Steve barks out a laugh and Tony looks to Pepper who watches him and smiles softly at them both.

It’s only been a little over a week, but Steve thinks of this small group as pack. Bucky and he had built pack with the Commandos and Steve could never see that happening again, but he’s being proven wrong.  He still has Peggy, who will always be pack, and Pepper who became pack almost immediately, but Tony is a surprise. 

Tonight though, he just can’t get Bucky out of his head. Every part of him misses his alpha.  Rolling over, he curls around himself and tries to sleep.  He wakes screaming Bucky’s name, seeing him fall from the train, with JARVIS talking calmly to him.  ‘You are safe, Captain.  Your child is safe.  No one will hurt you.  Everyone here cares for you.’

If Steve didn’t know better, he’d think that JARVIS had a soul.


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve meets Bruce.

Steve’s been with Tony and Pepper for seven weeks when they finally bring a doctor. Bruce Banner is a beta through and through, making Steve immediately feel at ease.  He’s awkward and soft-spoken; very nearly bleeds calm into the room.  Steve watches him push his glasses on his nose and likes him immediately.  He’s checking vitals and having JARVIS run scans, asking for specific things.  He smiles down at Steve.  “I’m not really this kind of doctor, but Tony doesn’t trust anyone else with this, so I’m going to do my best.”

Steve smiles. “If Tony and Pepper trust you, then I do too.”  Bruce blushes furiously.

“How have you been feeling?” He’s looking over several scans.

“Lonely, I miss my alpha.” He takes a deep breath to calm himself.

Bruce can see Steve slipping and reaches out, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, listen, it’s okay to feel that way, but in about six months, you won’t have time to think about anything else because you are going to be taking care of a new life.”  Steve’s hand comes to rest on his stomach.  “Think about that instead.”

Yeah, Steve likes Bruce. “How does everything look?”

“You want to see?” Steve nods and Bruce blows up the scan of the baby.

Instead of looking like a peanut like before, it’s starting to look like a baby. He can see the head, arms, legs, fingers, it’s the most amazing thing he’s ever seen.  “Can we tell what it is yet?”

Bruce laughs. “Yeah, we can.  You want to know?”

Steve thinks about it and wants to plan accordingly. “Yeah, I want to know.”

Bruce pushes his glasses back up on his nose again. “It’s a girl.” 

Steve doesn’t try to hide the tears at that information. “I hope she looks like her papa.  If she does, she’ll be beautiful.”

Bruce can only think that if she looks like either of her daddies, she’ll be beautiful. He’s never been around an omega before and if Steve is any indication of their effect, the magnitude of society’s loss is overwhelming.  Steve’s the most incredible person he’s ever been around and he can feel Hulk seconding that sentiment. 


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Project Insight

As the weeks pass by, Peggy comes to visit every couple of weeks, sometimes more. She and Steve spend time talking about old missions and how if the Commandos got out of control, she would rain them back in.  She tells him about working with them more after the war and Steve listens with rapped attention laughing at how Peggy led them. _She_ would have made a hell of a Captain America is not for the sexist bullshit of the time.

“Steven, I didn’t come here today just to reminisce with you, although I’m greatly enjoying it, but I need your help with a project.” She doesn’t want to tell him everything yet because there’s still that selfless spark in him that means he might put himself in danger if he thinks it necessary.

“You know you just have to ask, Peg. What can I do?”  He’s the same gentleman he’s always been; ever willing to help if someone needs him.

She pulls a file from her bag and hands it to him. “Now, this is a worst case scenario.”  She takes a sip of tea to give the illusion of calm.  “I started thinking about my legacy recently and wondered what would happen if it were infiltrated by an enemy force.”

Steve opens the file and the first line startles him. “Hydra?”

“Well yes, can you think of anything more terrifying?” He shakes his head.  “In this scenario, if Hydra still existed, and had infiltrated SHIELD, how would we bring them down?  Everything is in that file.  I want your input on how you would run this mission.” 

Steve looks up critically. For a second she thinks he knows the truth, but then grins. “Peg, are you trying to keep my tactical skills from getting rusty?”

She laughs. “Why Steven Barnes, would I be that sneaky?”

He throws his head back, laughing. “You absolutely would.”  He looks back down at the file.  “Sure Peg, I’ll go through this and come up with a tactical plan.”  They talk for awhile longer before she leaves.  Breathing a sigh of relief that he doesn’t seem to think there’s anything amiss.  Peggy doesn’t like deceiving him, but in this case, it’s necessary.

Steve watches the lift doors close and takes another look at the file. He had to play it off, but he knows there’s a threat in SHIELD and as good an actor as Peggy is, she’s not that good.  Steve asks JARVIS to help him organize the information, then he spends days walking through everything over and over.  “JARVIS, this mention of Project Insight, what is that?”

‘I have no direct reference to that project in the files I have accessed.’

Steve bites the inside of his cheek. “Do you think you could maybe…look a little deeper?”

‘Are you asking me to hack SHIELD’s encrypted files, sir?’

Steve makes a face. “Yes?”

‘It would be my pleasure, Captain.’

Steve chuckles and starts examining the files again.

A few days pass and JARVIS tells Steve that he’s gotten into the files that the Captain has asked for. Steve’s sipping his morning tea because according to Pepper coffee and caffeine in general are bad during pregnancy.  “Tell me what you found, JARVIS.”

JARVIS first tells Steve the company line on Project Insight, but then brings up the schematics on the air-ships. Steve looks over what they are actually capable of doing and his breath hitches.

‘Are you well Captain?’

“These aren’t ships of peacekeeping, these are ships of control.” He lays his hand on his ever expanding belly protectively.  “I don’t want my kid growing up in a world like this.”

‘What would you like me to do, Captain?’

“First, stop calling me Captain, JARVIS. Friends call each other by name.”

‘As you wish Steven.’

Steve smiles. He likes that much better.  “And second, find me a weakness.”

‘Already calculated. The indicated area is what you are looking for, Steven.’


	8. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hydra in SHIELD

It’s almost 3 months later and Steve is still living quietly on his floor of the Tower. Pepper has been helping him with his yoga posed because his balance is starting to falter. The more rounded he becomes, the more he’s likely to fall and she won’t have that.  Pepper has just left him, having brought in some of the strange cravings that he’s been having.  She’s found a deli in Brooklyn that still makes some of the food that Steve remembers and has it delivered when he asks.  She’s impressed that not once during all of this has he spoken about feeling like a prisoner. 

So, being Pepper, she asks him and finds a new appreciation for this man out of time. “It’s not that hard to be comfortable with being here all the time knowing that I’m protecting something more important than everything out there.”  He indicates the windows and she understands that the life of this child is more important than anything else in Steve’s life.  “I do want to go out there at some point, see the things I’ve been learning about, but right now, she’s everything.”  He places his hand over the growing bump.  He also has to take into account that there aren’t scent blockers for omegas anymore.  Why make something for a demographic that doesn’t exist, so if he leaves the building, everyone would be able to scent him making it an unthinkable adventure.  Tony has offered to create something specifically for him, but Steve doesn’t see the point.  In a few months, when he isn’t pregnant, maybe, but for now, he’s okay with the status quo.

Pepper leaves with a smile, but knows that she has to go upstairs and deal with the crisis for today, so the frown that graces her otherwise beautiful face is a natural mask these days. The lift deposits her in her office where Peggy, Tony, Nick Fury, Bruce and the red head Natalia are waiting.  Tony gets up and kisses her quickly. 

Since having Steve here, they have finally moved forward in their relationship. After hearing him talk about his relationship with Bucky they both wanted to have that kind of relationship. Steve and Bucky’s story is so damned romantic that even Tony is affected.  “How’s he doing?”

“As content as ever.” She smiles at Bruce.  “Maybe you could go check on him after we’re done here.”  Bruce found himself drawn to the super soldier because even after finding out that he’s Hulk, Steve still had no fear or judgment.  Sometimes Steve just smiles, pats Bruce’s shoulder, and quips, “No smashing today.”  It makes Bruce laugh every time Steve does it.  Bruce knows that a family is forming with this motley crew and Steve is the nucleus.

Bruce suspected that Steve being an omega had something to do with it, so he did some research. Pulling up old documents and finding what he believed to be true.  Omegas could calm an entire room of people with their scent, especially pregnant omegas.  Something in their scent changes and becomes like a beacon for calm.  He spends as much time as he can with Steve and even does morning yoga with him because even the beast that lives inside him likes being around the super soldier.  Bruce, being a beta, also has a calming effect on Steve’s hormones, not that Fury and the red head need to know any of what he’s discovered. 

“Mr. Fury, what can I do for you today?” Pepper smirks and Peggy lets out an undignified snort.  For the months that Steve has been in the Tower, Fury has shown up every week demanding to see him.  For the months that Steve has been in the Tower, Pepper has calmly looked at him and said, “I’ll take your demand under advisement” and shown him the door. 

He’s tried over and over to break the security for that floor, so he can observe Steve, but nothing he does works. Then a few months ago, he brought in Natalia to try her hand at it and she couldn’t break in either.  Tony is impressed with her skill, but knows that he’s smarter.  Everything she started with was basic tactics of SHIELD, but she also uses some methods that are questionable.  Tony grins because most of his methods are questionable.

Peggy stands, joining Bruce. Her interest in the power play going on in the room is waning. “Perhaps I can go down with you. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve seen him.”  Bruce smiles shyly and nods.

Fury pulls himself out of the chair and goes to the window. “I’m not sure why you’ve kept him locked away and why he’s been so willing to stay locked away.  That’s not his personality.”  He stares out the window trying to look intimidating.

Pepper snorts this time, making Fury turn on her with his scariest, condescending look. She quirks an eyebrow at him, unimpressed with his tactics.  The room freezes, especially Natalia.  Everyone except Tony, who knows just what his Pepper is capable of.  “You know nothing about our Steven.  You only know what his file says.”

Peggy smirks. “That was always the problem with the men in charge; they always thought they knew best.”  She and Pepper exchange a look.

Tony pours himself a drink. “That has never been my problem.  I know you two are smarter than me and that’s why I do what you tell me to.”

The two women grin, but there’s a softness to it. “That’s why we love you Anthony.”  Peggy pats his cheek and Pepper kisses him lightly and goes to her desk.

Pepper watches the other woman in the room; she’s been cataloguing the red head since she entered. Pepper can’t say for sure what it is, but she doesn’t trust Natalia.  It isn’t just that she’s been trying to break the security; it’s the fact that she never lets anything show.  She’s like Fury, a spy trying to outsmart everyone else in the room.  Pepper knows her type and doesn’t like her type.  The ones that always think they know what’s going on and are smarter than everyone else.  In this case, the smartest person in the room is a 94 year old woman whose only objective is to keep her friend safe.

Peggy takes a deep breath, sitting back in the chair by the desk getting a sense of everyone in the room. The other thing that sticks out about the red head is that she doesn’t have a scent and that means she’s trying to hide her nature.  People who do that, usually have something to hide.  Another red flag for Peggy.  This meeting isn’t going as planned and she’s got to get it back on track for the sake of her legacy.  “Mr. Fury, why don’t you sit down?  We have something to talk about.”  Peggy indicates the chair across from her and when Fury sits, she hands him the file she and Tony have put together.  It’s the same one she gave Steve months ago, but Steve’s lacked some of the information that Fury is looking through.

He starts thumbing through it, eye getting wider and wider. “As you can see, you and SHIELD have a problem that goes all the way to the top.”  He starts handing papers to Natalia as he finishes reading them and as she reads, she sits heavily in the chair next to her boss.  “Anthony and I have been working on this for months and if something isn’t done soon, everything that SHIELD has worked for is going to be destroyed.”  Fury looks up and for the first time ever looks scared.

“Are you sure about this? I’ve known Secretary Pierce for years.”  Peggy nods.

Natalia looks destroyed. “I’ve been working for Hydra this whole time?  How is that possible?”

Tony sits down next to Peggy, taking her hand. “We all have, without knowing it.  They’ve been building themselves up since the SSR.”

Natalia stands, anger evident. “Then we need Captain America more now than ever and you people won’t give him up.”

The three look at each other. Pepper stands, coming to the group.  She’s the CEO of Stark Industries, but protecting her family is all that matters.  She faces off against Natalia.  “Be clear on this, we will protect him with our lives if necessary.  There is nothing more important to me than that right now.”

Fury stands, placing a hand on Natalia’s arm. “We don’t pretend to understand why you’re doing this, but if you want us to take down Hydra; we need something more to go on.  He’s the symbol that we need.”

Pepper looks at Peggy, then at Tony and Bruce who has strategically stayed in the background. “If we are going to make sure this happens, it may be time.”  Pepper turns back to Fury and Natalia.  “But mark my words, if you try anything against him, this building will destroy you before you get to the lobby.  Isn’t that right JARVIS?”

‘Master Steven’s safety is my first priority. Anything and anyone wishing him harm will be immobilized immediately.’


	9. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve meets Fury.

Steve’s just finished walking on the treadmill. He had been running up until two weeks ago, but found that the bigger he got, the more it took out of him, so he started walking.  Going into the kitchen he grabs a bottle of water from the fridge.  “JARVIS, are they still in the building?”

His four friends have kept him apprised of Fury’s actions. ‘They are sir.’  Steve’s pulse races, he always feels like this will be the time that his friends can’t protect him and someone will come to take him away.  ‘Steven, are you well?’

He braces himself on the counter and smiles. “I’m nervous.  Every time he’s here, I get this way.”

‘That is understandable. However, you know that Sir and Ms. Potts will not let anything happen to you.’

Steve tries to take relaxing breaths. “Yeah, I know, but it’s not about me.”  His hand goes protectively to his large stomach.

‘If it makes you feel any more secure, I will not allow anything to happen to you if it is within my power.’

“Thanks JARVIS, I know you’ll protect her too.”

The lift opens and Peggy and Bruce enter the floor. Steve goes to embrace Peggy.  “It’s good to see you.  Bruce, everything okay?”

Bruce grins. Bruce has found that Steve isn’t anything like the history books say.  They play chess together and Steve gives Bruce a run for his money.  He’s a tactician and views the board that way.  “We just came to check on you and to let you know that…”  His voice trails off because he doesn’t want to be the one to tell Steve this information.  Steve can see his nervous energy by the hand-wringing.

Peggy pats his arm and Bruce blushes. “Steven, Anthony is going to bring Fury and that spy down.”  He gets panicked and wraps his arms around this stomach.  “No, no dear, it’s going to be okay.  We know for sure they are the good guys.”  She takes him to the sofa and Bruce helps him sit.  “There’s more going on than you realize and we believe once they see you, they will understand.”

“What do you mean? More going on.”  He’s going to do everything in his power to protect himself and his daughter and if it means running and hiding, that’s what he will do, but he wants to see if Peggy will admit what he read in the file.

“I want you to meet them first, then I can explain more about the files I brought you a few months back.” He has to trust her.  She’s always been the smartest person he ever met.  He notices that Bruce is running a scan on him.

He raises an eyebrow at him. Bruce shrugs.  “I’m just making sure the stress isn’t too much.”  Steve snorts at him.

The lift doors open, Pepper and Tony come in first. Steve is still sitting on the sofa, so when Fury and the red head enter, they can’t see his belly.  “Well Cap, you ready to suit up?”  Steve stands and they get the full view.  “Holy shit!”


	10. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Fury talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't get mad at me for Nat in this chapter. I'm building to that friendship.

Fury is pacing the floor, from one side to the other. He’ll stop every now and then, look at Steve, then start pacing again.  The spy just sits by the window, watching the whole room.  She doesn’t let anything show on her face, but Steve suspects she’s making a mental list of the floor and its security.  His friends don’t say anything and it isn’t until the baby kicks and Steve takes a deep breath grinning up at his friends.

“She’s really active today.” Tony comes over, kneeling in front of Steve, and puts his hand on Steve’s belly.  “She threw me off balance earlier she kicked so hard.”  Tony chuckles at that.

“Well, we’ll have to check into soccer leagues for her when she’s older.” Steve, being the hormonal mess that any omega at six months would be, hugs him.  Tony’s gotten use to Steve being nothing like his file said and returns the hug with vigor.  “You’re going to be the worst possible soccer mom.”

Steve barks out a laugh. “And you’re going to be the worst possible soccer uncle.” 

Fury watches this interaction and finally breaks his silence. “I’m trying to understand all of this, but I have to admit of all the scenarios that I had going on in my head, this isn’t even in the neighborhood of what I thought was happening.”

Pepper gets up to get a drink. “Well maybe if you’d given us an indication that you were a good guy earlier on, we would have let you into this secret sooner.”  Fury looks at her in his best, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’ face.  “Stop trying to break into our security.  If you’d gotten in it would have been exactly what Hydra wanted.”  He doesn’t even look ashamed and then Pepper turns on Natalia.  “And you, do me a favor and stop trying to hack my personal computer.”

Natalia just smirks. “Didn’t think you’d picked up on that.”

“That’s everyone’s downfall, they always underestimate me.” She walks past Steve and kisses him on the cheek.  Steve grins and kisses her cheek in return.

Fury throws himself into a chair and watches this make-shift pack. Peggy, the matriarch, just watches with a smile.  “So, who’s the father?  The alpha?”  Fury makes a face at Tony, whose eyes get huge from what the Director is implying.

Steve turns with a sad look. “Bucky.”  He assumes that Fury knows who that is.  “We mated when I was 16 and he was 17. Then after the serum and pulling him out of Azzano, I went into a real heat for the first time.  It was okay because we were in the field and no one, but the Commandos knew.  Being an omega in the army was fine, but being an omega in heat in the army was dealt with by giving them leave or special medical bays.  We didn’t have that option.”

Fury is still trying to wrap his head around all of this. “So, your CO didn’t know you went into heat?”

Steve shook his head. “No, but it wouldn’t have mattered to him.  Omegas did everything alphas did, sometimes better because we didn’t get aggressive too fast.”  Peggy snorts at that and Steve looks at her grinning.  There were many times, she and Bucky had to talk Steve down when he got too riled up during a mission.  He’s never been the typical omega.

Fury seems taken aback by what he’s hearing. “Why weren’t you discharged and sent home?”

Steve rolls his eyes so hard they nearly pop out of his head. “Why?  Because I’m a prize to be won?  Because I don’t know my own mind and need an alpha to control me?  Nice to know how you really feel about my sub-gender, Director!”  Steve’s riled himself up from all the reading he’s been doing about omega treatment after the public realized they were dying out.

‘Steven, you much calm yourself for the baby’s safety.’ JARVIS doesn’t usually speak unless addressed, but Tony has noticed that he’s more vocal with Steve.

Bruce gets on his knees in front of Steve and they breathe together. Steve heart rate comes down and his breathing returns to normal.  He gives Bruce a thankful smile.  “Feel better?”

Steve nods. “Yeah, I’m just not used to that kind of thing.  It’s just not how things were in my day.”

Bruce turns to look at Fury. “Do me a favor and leave your prejudices outside this floor.  You’ll treat Steve with the respect that every omega was due.  And if you’re hell-bent on being an alpha asshole, you can leave now or I’ll remove you.”

Fury smirks. “You think you can do that, Dr. Banner?”

Bruce gives a grin that makes the whole room freeze. It’s Hulk coming out without the green skin and 1000 pounds of muscle.  The deep, resonating voice has the room on edge.  “Dr. Banner can’t, but I can.”  He gives Fury a sneer.  Hulk pulls back and gives Bruce control again.  “Don’t push me.”  Bruce figured out a few months back that being around Steve gave him a filter for Hulk.  The one thing that he and Hulk can agree on is that Steve is pack, Steve is to be protected, and Steve’s pheromones make everything better.

The room is silent for several minutes and Fury now has a complete understanding of this dynamic. Steve Rogers’s ability to illicit loyalty is not a make-believe story; he’s created a pack here that is tied together in a way that Fury has never seen.  The pack dynamic died out when omegas died out and hasn’t been seen since, but that’s exactly what’s been built here.  The belief was that alphas just decided that pack dynamics didn’t fit with the ever growing social makeup is bullshit, it seems that omegas were the ones that held everything together and without them the alphas didn’t know how to continue the pack dynamic.  “How far along are you?”

Bruce presses on his tablet and the scan he did earlier comes up. The baby is fully formed, with a strong heartbeat.  “Six months.”  Steve gets up and looks closely at his daughter.  “She’s perfect.”

Peggy laughs. “Well considering whom her parents are, she’s going to be gorgeous and very strong willed.”

Steve laughs. “I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult, Pegs.”  Bruce goes into the kitchen and starts cooking, Pepper joins him.

“I think we need to talk about the bigger issue here.” Fury pulls out his phone and brings up a file entitled Project Insight.   “It’s obvious that Cap can’t go into the field, but we could use your tactical help.”

For the first time Natalia speaks. “I don’t know if help from the soft little omega is a good call.”

The whole room stops. Bruce and Pepper come out of the kitchen, hackles up, Tony and Peggy both growl in response.  Looking at Peggy and Tony he sees something that just doesn’t happen in 2012; their eyes are bleeding red.  If Fury didn’t believe the pack myth before, he does now.  But Steve starts to laugh.  He sneers at her.  “Should have known that an ex-hydra spy would be a sexist bitch.”  She springs up and makes her move, but before she can get a hand on him, he’s got her in a choke hold off the ground.  “I may be pregnant, I may be a lowly omega to you, but do not think for one minute that I will not rip your throat out to protect what’s mine.”  Just before she passes out, he throws her to the ground like trash.  She spins, but doesn’t make another move.  “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay down.”  She does, but smirks.  That’s when she notices the rest of the pack.  It’s an arresting sight and one that shakes her to her core because no one has ever gone into protective mode for her like this group does for Steve.

“Didn’t think you had it in you, Rogers.” She gets up rubbing her throat.

“Sucks to be you then.” He goes into the kitchen to snag a piece of food before coming back into the living room.  Fury is just staring at him, dumbfounded.

“You aren’t what I expected.”

“I get that, a lot.” He sits next to Peggy, leaning into her, she runs her fingers through his hair, and he practically purrs.  Everyone calms down at the sound.  Even Fury feels his nerves leveling out and wonders what this world would be if there were still omegas.


	11. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More people are brought in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I stated in the first chapter that I actually like Maria Hill, but I needed a character that would treat Steve like an alpha asshole and she got the short stick.

“We’re going to need a few more people.” Fury makes a couple of calls, giving the names to Pepper, who makes sure they can get through security. 

While they wait for dinner and the guests, Steve goes to shower and gets comfortable. When he comes out, Tony is just exiting the lift with three new people.  They are all alphas, if their scents are any indication, but don’t initially raise the hair on his neck because of the family scent permeating the room.  One, a man, looks at Steve with hero worship in his eyes, the woman, scans the room, taking in everything and everyone, but not like the red head and the last man, Steve notices has hearing aids, nods to Natalia.  So, they know each other.  “Cap, let me introduce you to Agents Coulson, Hill and Barton.”

They all look at Steve horrified when they notice his stomach. “Good to meet you.”  He keeps walking toward the kitchen because now he’s starving.  He doesn’t give them a second look because he doesn’t expect they will be any different than everyone else that realizes he’s omega. 

He read about how omegas were treated when everyone started realizing they were dying out. They became prizes, rewards for having a lot of money or power.  They became status symbols and sometimes stolen from mates or families in the middle of the night.  He knows how dangerous things could get for him, but he feels secure in that his and Bucky’s mating was a special circumstance.  It’s part of the reason that he’s been so patient about being in the tower.

“Is he…” Hill looks at him and growls, the inner alpha response to claim coming out.

Coulson puts his hand on her arm. “Don’t make me fight you to protect him from your instincts.”

She turns on him, but before it comes to blows, Steve returns to the room. “I dare you to try, Hill.” Plus he pulls the collar of his shirt down.  “I already have a mate and you can’t break a true mate claim.”  He’s munching on a celery stick with cream cheese.  Turning back to the kitchen he groans.  “Oh my god, who made this?  What’s in this cream cheese?”  Steve just forgets about the guests in the room, but everyone reacts to Steve’s statement.  True mates were a fairy tale, not something that was real.

Bruce comes out, rubbing Steve’s back. “A little of this and a little of that.”  Steve snorts.  “If I tell you, then you won’t keep me around.”

Hill is still breathing hard and Coulson still looks like he’d give his life to protect Steve. Barton is watching him eat, finally giving in and going into the kitchen to get his own food.  “HOMEMADE PIZZA!”  And that’s how Steve meets Hawkeye.  He doesn’t like Hill, he’s sure she’s good at her job, but obviously doesn’t understand etiquette.  He likes Coulson, who is willing to protect someone he doesn’t know.  Looking around the room, he starts categorizing everyone.

_Family: Pepper, Tony, Peggy, Bruce and JARVIS_

_Potential friend: Coulson, Barton and Fury_

_Enemy: Hill and Natalia_

Pepper and Peggy see him working through the list. Natalia sees it too and knows what category she’s in and for some reason it bothers her.  Hill keeps scenting the air making everyone uncomfortable.  Fury finally slaps her in the back of the head with a, “knock it off or I’ll relieve you of duty.”

They sit down to eat and the outsiders get to see the family interaction. Steve laughs at Tony trying to grab part of his pizza and getting slapped by Bruce.  “Leave his pizza alone.  He’s eating for two.”  Tony gives him a sad pouty face.  “Fine, you get to explain to your niece why you stole her food.” 

That stops him and he pulls his hand away. “That’s playing dirty Banner.”  Bruce looks very please with himself.  Steve leans over and lets Tony take a bite from his pizza making Tony stick he tongue out at Bruce causing Barton to giggle incessantly.  Pepper and Peggy just watch with parental indulgence, until Steve takes Pepper’s hand and puts it on his belly, she laughs when she gets kicked.  Coulson gently asks if he can feel and Steve allows him the privilege.  He beams at Steve and tells him that he truly is honored to meet him and offers condolences for the loss of Bucky.  Hill sits next to Fury, pouting that she can’t touch, but Steve made it very clear, she’s to stay as far away from him as Natalia.  Barton looks at his friend wondering what she did, she just shrugs like it doesn’t matter, but he can see that it does.

Coulson leans in and as quietly as he can asks Steve to explain the true mates comment from earlier. Sure, it’s in all the Disney movies, but no one actually believes it was ever a real thing.  “Well, it wasn’t that uncommon when I was a kid.  My parents were true mates.  Bucky and I knew from the minute that we met what we were, so when I was 16 we mated.”  He tries to sound nonchalant, but his friends can hear the longing in his voice.

“What is it like? How is it different from a regular mating?”  The table seems interested in the conversation now and everyone listens.  Even Fury, who doesn’t seem the romantic type, is engrossed in the topic.

“From what I’ve been reading when two people mate now, it’s more just a marriage contract than a true mating.” No one seems to understand except Pepper who remembers hearing her great-grandmother talk about her husband.  Steve reaches out and takes her hand.  They’ve talked about it in private, but never where others could hear.  “See when it’s a true mate pairing and the bond is made, they can feel each other.  Not like thoughts so much, but more like if he was stressed, I could feel it too.  So like an empathic bond.  It’s like two people dancing that are in perfect sync. But even before the bond was made, I could feel a pull to Bucky like nothing I’d ever felt before.  Now people can marry, divorce, and marry again.”

“So, you can’t leave a true mate if anything goes wrong?” Clint asks half serious.

“Why would anyone leave their true mate?” Steve’s confused and as Clint tries to clarify, Steve interrupts.  “I don’t think you understand.  A true mate is your perfect compliment.  Where you might be weak, they’re strong, when you need comfort, they know, if you feel anything, they feel it with you and understand completely.  Why would anyone walk away from that?”  Now the table gets it. 

Coulson sighs. “It sounds amazing.”  Coulson has always been a little embarrassed by his crush on Steve Rogers, but this beautiful man is an omega and was lucky enough to find his true love.  It’s less embarrassment now and more admiration.  Steve Rogers deserved to have what he had then and what he has now.  The unborn child is now top priority for Coulson.

Steve gets a sad smile. “It was the most incredible feeling.  To know that someone was really part of me.”  There are a few more questions, but after a little while the conversation turns to the mission.

Fury admits that he’s had suspicions about Hydra, but tried to tap them down and never suspected that they were in control of SHIELD. “They’ve been hiding in plain sight for years.  We have to come up with a way to stop this from happening.”

Steve sits back, watching the way they all talk and offer ideas. He’s been going over the files on and off for months.  He just ignores what they are saying because he already knows how to take down the sky ships.  Coulson sits back and watches Steve.  He knows his childhood hero has an idea, but instead of talking over everyone else, he lets them have their say. 

Then, Steve gets up from the table and goes into the kitchen, digging in the freezer for ice cream, pulling out the Neapolitan; he gets a spoon and starts back to the table. He stops when he sees Natalia standing in the door.  “Why don’t you tell them what you’re thinking?”

He just sighs and takes a bite. “Because, like you, your friends don’t want to hear from the lowly omega, except maybe Coulson.  I’m just a trophy to you.”  He shrugs and leans against the counter.  “Didn’t used to be that way.”

“Maybe if you show them who you are, they’d stop and listen.” She’s doing that thing again that Steve hates, the ‘I know better than you.’

He snorts and gets a kick from the baby in response. Rubbing his stomach, he coos to her that it’s okay.  Daddy is okay.  “Come on, you tried to take down a pregnant omega earlier.  You could care less what I think and don’t think you know anything about me.”

She shrugs and walks out, but something in her scent changes and she smells hurt. He goes back into the dining room and sits down, still listening to bad ideas.  The table comes to a stop when JARVIS interrupts.  ‘Perhaps it would be wise to look at the plans already developed.’

Tony looks up. “What do you mean, J?”

Plans are projected just above the table. The group, except Steve, Pepper and Peggy, get up and start analyzing what they are seeing.  Peggy smirks at Steve, knowing that they are his.  “JARVIS, where did these come from?”  Coulson asks the AI, but knows very well who came up with them.

‘Captain Rogers put these together.’

Coulson grins at Steve, who smiles back. Hill gives a condescending snort and if looks could kill, she’d be dead and buried.  “So we’re just going to assume these are good because he came up with them?  Shouldn’t we be really looking at everything he’s credited with doing?  Somehow I doubt he’s capable.”

And that’s all Steve can take. “I think it’s time all of you leave.”  He goes to the lift and the door opens thanks to JARVIS.  “JARVIS will send the plans to you so you can decide if I’m smart enough to come up with something on my own without a big, strong alpha to guide me.”  He leaves no room for argument and Fury has to concede that inviting Hill might not have been a good idea.  When Hill gets near Steve, she starts to scent him to the horror of everyone else.  Coulson grabs her collar and drags her into the lift.  He looks apologetically at Steve.

The lift closes and Steve goes to the sofa and asks JARVIS to play his Bucky playlist. That situation was almost too much for him and it makes him even more confident that his choice to stay in the Tower is the best for his daughter.  If that’s how people act these days, he doesn’t want to be part of it. 


	12. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve has to bug out.

The music wafts through the apartment bringing with it memories of dancing with his Bucky. Peggy and Pepper sit at the table watching him.  Tony gets up and goes over to the sofa, offering his hand.  He pulls Steve up and carefully moves him around the living room.  He’s not as graceful as Bucky was, but he’s not bad.  “You are brave, honorable and loyal.  I’ve never met anyone who knows themselves the way you do.  You find yourself in another century and give everything to take care of your daughter.  Your alpha would be so proud.”  It’s the first time that Steve lets himself cry.  Tony holds him close as they continue to sway.

Peggy knows that Tony is a better man than his father, but this just proves that. Tony tries so hard to be abrasive and uncaring because he doesn’t want people to know how much they mean to him, but he shows no signs of self-consciousness with Steve.  Pepper watches thinking that she’s never loved Tony more than she does in that moment.  He’s giving Steve a safe place to let go without regards to how others may view it.

The relationship between Tony and Steve shifts after that and they find themselves playing video games, Steve teaches him to cook and Tony buys everything and anything he thinks the baby will need or want. When he shows up with a miniature bouncy castle and an antique rocking horse, Steve can’t stop laughing.  “Tony, for god sake, you have to stop buying shit.  She’s going to be spoiled rotten.”

Tony chuckles and Pepper watches giggling. “And what is the problem with that Steve?  I’m her quirky uncle, I’m supposed to give her anything she wants.”

Steve sits in the corner of the couch with his feet propped up. “The problem is she doesn’t know what she wants yet because she’s not even born.”

“Your logic is faulty Steven.” Tony hands over one last gift before sitting on the floor.  Bruce comes out of the kitchen with tea for Steve.  He joins Pepper on the other end of the couch.

“What else did you buy?” Tony just quirks an eyebrow at him.  Opening the box, Steve nearly drops it in his surprise.  “Where did you get this?”

Bruce and Pepper are very curious, but don’t want to be rude and ask. “I have some friends in high places, okay Aunt Peggy had it and I bribed her for it.  She’s been holding it for you, but wasn’t sure if you were ready.”

Steve pulls the frame out of the box and holds it against his chest before pulling it away and looking at it again. It was taken in 1944, just after one of the Howlies missions.  He’d taken Gabe and Jacques with him and had to leave Bucky behind.  It was taken by Peggy when he’d returned to base.  Their arms are around each other and their foreheads are resting together.  It a picture of mated bliss.  With tears stream down his cheeks, Bruce and Pepper slide down the sofa comfort him.  He looks up at his friend, his family.  “Thank you.”  Tony tries to wave it off, but Steve won’t let him.  “No Tony, please…”  Tony looks up.  “You don’t understand how much this means.  It means that I can not only tell her about her father, but show him to her.”  Tony gets a little misty at that and nods.

Over the next couple of weeks, Steve gets bigger and the mission is planned down to the last detail. They use Steve’s plan because it’s the only one that takes every contingency into account.  Fury only comes to the tower twice to meet with him, showing him the respect that he’d held back before.  Natalia comes, with Clint in tow, to try and mend fences.  Steve still doesn’t trust her, but he does trust Clint.  Coulson comes, bearing gifts for the baby.  He brings a Captain Ameri-bear and a Bucky Bear.  Steve falls in love with them and puts them in the crib, hugging Coulson, who nearly faints.  Hill doesn’t come and even when she sends a basket of fruit and muffins, Steve has Pepper take them to the security team that watches his floor.  They may not know what they are guarding, but they still do the job and Steve thinks they deserve a little something for that.

SHIELD falls and the files are downloaded onto the internet; the country is in an uproar and want to know how it happened. How was it possible that a secret organization infiltrated some of the highest points in the government and got that close to controlling the world? 

These are the questions that the President asks when he comes to the Tower to see Stark and Fury. Normally, they would have gone to Washington, but things being what they are, they tell the White House Liaison that if the President wants to talk, he’ll have to come to New York.  When he asks how they came up with a plan that was able to down the air ships without too many casualties, they subvert the question. 

Looking at each other and not wanting to reveal that Captain America had come up with it because, although a good man, the President is an alpha with a traditional family values platform. Not knowing how he would react to Captain America being an omega, they keep it to themselves.  The government calls the Avengers heroes, which Steve believes is accurate. 

It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon when it happens. Someone, no one is sure who, decrypts one of the files from the mass dump and there’s a reference to Steve from about the time he was found.  It blows up on the internet and news outlets start to investigate.  Fury doesn’t release a statement and orders everyone to keep their damn mouths shut, but Pepper knows they have a problem when someone, a dedicated reporter for the BBC, shows up at Stark Tower requesting an interview.  It turns out she’s the great-granddaughter of James Falsworth and even when told that Ms. Potts can’t give an interview that day, she shows up every day for the next week.

Steve wants to meet her, but Pepper advises him against that until they can get a clear picture of her agenda. “Pepper, she’s kinda family, at least her great-granddad was.”

“Steven Grant Barnes, you have to listen to me about this. Family or not, she’s a reporter and they all have agendas.”  Steve goes to the window and for the first time Pepper sees longing.  “Steve, just let me check her out.  If she comes back okay, I’ll consider it.” 

On the fifth day, she asks security if she can send Ms. Potts a message. They allow her to use one of their data ports.  JARVIS intercepts and sends it on to Pepper, but then deletes any evidence of it from the system.  The security downstairs doesn’t know about Steve and JARVIS wants to keep it that way.

_Ms. Potts, I know he’s here and I know what he is. I have letters from my great-grandfather. I won’t tell anyone, but I’d like to be the one to tell his story._

Pepper explains everything to Steve and he excitedly agrees to let her come up. Steve stays in the nursery until Pepper and Tony talk to her.  She’s brought to Steve’s floor and looks around wearily.  She seems nice enough, but Tony sits off to the side watching for any deception.  Pepper talks to her about her family and the letters that she has with her.  She offers them to Pepper, and gives her time to read through them.  Pepper gets up and shows Tony numerous passages about the level of dedication between Sgt. Barnes and Captain Rogers, but beyond that, their dedication to the pack they formed with the Commandos.

“Ms. Falsworth, we need you to understand that anything said or witnessed here must not be published for two more months.” Tony’s fists are clenched and Pepper’s expression is tight.

She seemed taken aback. “I don’t understand.”

Tony sits down next to her. “Steve agreed to this because of his connection to your family.  The Commandos were his pack and he’s asking that you treat him the same.”

She thinks over what they’ve said and nods, but that’s not enough for Pepper. “I’m going to need you to say it out loud.”

Not sure what the difference is, she does. “I understand that anything I see or hear while I’m here, I have to sit on for the next two months and if I break that agreement, I’ll take whatever punishment Stark Industries deems appropriate.”

Tony looks sadly at her. “It won’t matter.  If you tell this story now, he’ll have to go away, disappear for good.”

“I really don’t understand.” The nursery door clicks open and they turn.

Steve steps out of the room and waddles into the living room. “They’ll try to take me and the baby away and my family will have to hide me.”  Her eyes nearly bug out of her head, but then she smiles.  Not a dangerous smile, but one of true happiness.

She gets up, extending her hand. “Steve Barnes, I’m Jessica Falsworth and my family speaks very highly of you.  I am honored to meet you and your little one.”  Steve smiles in return and they sit for nearly three hours talking about her great-grandfather and Steve’s current life.  When she gets up to leave, she takes his hand.  “Would it be alright if I came back to see you?  Not for a story, just…just to talk.”

It feels like he’s made another friend and Steve likes that idea, especially since it’s like having a direct link to the family he made in the war. That night, after everyone leaves, he sits in the living room and tells his daughter about her father, his Bucky.  She moves around, but not like normal, more like she wants to be in a better position to listen to her daddy.  He doesn’t realize he’s fallen asleep until the lift door opens and Natalia and Clint comes barreling in, guns drawn.  Steve jumps up and throws himself off balance, but he’s damn well going protect his daughter no matter the cost.  Clint goes to the windows and checks the sightline and Natalia checks the rooms and access points.

Clint comes to him, keeping him on his feet. “We have to get you out of here.”

Natalia looks at him sadly. “Your new friend got mugged this evening and her notes from your interview were taken.”  Steve begins to shake.  “No one’s come yet, but we’re expecting them.”

Steve nods and grabs the picture Tony gave him then runs to the nursery for the two bears in the crib. “Let’s go.”

Natalia seems surprised that he isn’t freaking out more, but smiles as they head to the roof. Tony’s in full Iron Man armor and Pepper comes to him, hugging him close.  “We’ve prepared for this and we have a place for you.  You just have to trust us.”

Steve hugs her tightly. “I do.  You know I do.”  She nods and he boards the quinjet.  Tony takes point position on their left wing as escort.  “How long before we get there?”

Clint watches the monitor as Natalia flies. “Seven hours.  We’re taking a roundabout way of getting there even in stealth mode.”

Steve leans his head back, clutching the picture and bears to his chest. He wakes later, it’s still dark outside.  Clint hands him an earwig.  Placing it in his ear, he can hear the conversation between Tony and Natalia.  “Stark, any sign of being followed?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean anything. She was targeted because they knew she’d been on the secure floor.”  There’s a pause.  “It didn’t occur to me, but it should have.”

Steve sits up. “What should have occurred to you?”

There’s a long silence. “I’m sorry Steve.  I didn’t think about someone finding a loop hole.”

“Tony, explain what you mean.” He gets up, but finds that his balance is still off; clutching the bulkhead he makes his way to the co-pilot seat.  Natalia, helps him sit down.

“They couldn’t crack the security for the floor, but whoever they are, they were able to track what floor the lift stopped on. I went back and looked and for months they’ve been tracking the lift.  They figured out what floor you were on by where it stopped with certain people.”

Steve takes a deep breath. “Is she okay?  Is Jessica okay?”

“She was pretty beat up, but she’s going to be fine. I sent doctors to the hospital.  She has the best care there is.”

“Thank you, Tony.” The only thing Steve hates about being pregnant is that he’s hormonal.  Tears started gathering in his eyes.  “Who were they tracking?”

Natalia looks at Clint. He gives her a nod.  “They were tracking Director Carter and Fury.  Your location was confirmed by Jessica’s visit.”

Steve throws his head back on the rest of the chair. “Fuck.”


	13. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve has the baby with a surprise visitor.

They arrive a few hours later. “Where are we?”

Clint chuckles. “You ever been to Iceland, Cap?”

They walk off the quinjet and Tony lands next to them. There’s a house or what Steve would call a cottage, but it’s the surrounding landscape that caught his attention.  Iceland is not what he expected, it’s green and gorgeous and with the rising sun, it looks magical.  The cottage looks older, but in good shape.  “If they tried to track the quinjet, they will think it’s in Europe.”  Steve raises an eyebrow at Tony.  “What?  You know I’m a genius.”

Steve chuckles as they enter the cottage. It’s perfect and fully supplied.  There’s even a nursery at the back of the house, an easel and art supplies in the living room and a kitchen that looks like something out of a decorating magazine.  “There will be four of us circulating in to stay with you: me, Clint, Fury and Coulson.  You will not be here alone at any given time.  There’s a security system that surrounds the property, so no one gets in without us knowing.”

Steve looks at her suspiciously. “How did they convince you to take part in this?”

She looks sad again. “Contrary to what you might think, I respect you and what you are doing.”

He seems surprised because he is. “Then don’t make me kick your ass again.”  She smirks at him and goes out to get her bag from the jet.

She’s there for two weeks and during that time she and Steve find common ground. She reads and he paints or sketches, they share small tidbits about their lives before all of this.  He finds out that it was Clint that brought her in and that’s why they have such a close relationship.  It’s not romantic in anyway, more like brother and sister. 

“How did he convince you?” She looks amused.  “I mean, you were their best operative, so…”

“It didn’t take as much convincing as you would think and I wasn’t their best operative.” He stops painting and looks over at her.  “That’s a story for a different time.  Anyway, Clint shot me in the leg and told me to stop being a pain in his ass.  I found it funny.”  Steve laughs and goes back to the easel.

He tells her stories of Bucky and his childhood as a sickly, small boy with a love for his mother, who pushed him to be more than anyone could see.  He told her about knowing that he loved Bucky from the minute he pulled him from a fight on the playground.

“You know how you look at someone and think they’re beautiful?” She nods.  “Now imagine looking at someone and feeling it in your soul.  It wasn’t just a thought, but a physical pull.”

“And you were how old?” Her legs are flung over the arm of a chair as she watches him paint and listens to his story.

“I was 6 and he was 7.” She looks surprised.  “Yeah, we knew very young that we were true mates.”

“I bet your mother wasn’t pleased.”

Steve snorts. “Ma’s concern wasn’t for me, it was for Bucky.”  Natalia looks at him for clarification.  Steve sighs.  “See I wasn’t supposed to live past 30 and ma was explaining to Bucky that mating me was a death sentence for him.”

Nat looks intensely effected by that. “How old were you?”

He seems to think about that for a minute or two. “I was 14, so Buck was 15.”

“He mated you anyway.”

Steve smiles fondly. “He said that any years spent with me were worth it.”

At eight and a half months, Steve is resting on the couch while Coulson makes dinner when the first odd pain starts. He doesn’t think anything about it because Bruce had told him that his body would start preparing itself for the birth with these fake contractions.

Coulson comes out of the kitchen carrying a plate. “You know I _can_ walk and come to the table.”

The man chuckles. “I’m aware, but I’d like to think your alpha would approve of someone spoiling you a little.”

Steve throws his head back and laughs. “When I was 20 or so, I got sick with pneumonia and he carried me everywhere.  Wouldn’t let me walk, even to the bathroom.”

Coulson looks smug. “See, just doing what any good alpha would do.”

Steve takes his hand. “You are a good alpha, Phil.  Don’t let anyone ever tell you different.”  The man blushes and goes to get his own plate.

Before Phil comes back in, another Braxton-Hicks contraction flares up. He winces because there’s some pain in his back.  It passes and Steve tries to take another bite, but doesn’t feel hungry anymore.  “If you tell me my alfredo isn’t good, I’m going to be crushed.”

Steve smiles over at him as he sits. “It isn’t that.  I’m just not as hungry as I thought.  What I had was excellent.”

It isn’t long before another contraction hits. “Steve?”

Steve looks over, dazed when it passes. “Phil, I don’t think these are Braxton-Hicks.”

The call goes out to Tony, he and Bruce head to Iceland. It isn’t until later that night, contractions about 10 minutes apart, that Steve’s hackles go up and he can’t let go of the idea that they’re being watched.  There’s a strange scent in the air that Steve can’t place, even though there’s something vaguely familiar about it.

“Do you trust me?” Steve is in pain and timing the length of the contraction.

Coulson just gives him a ‘don’t be a dipshit’ look. “You know I do.”

“There’s someone here.” Steve raises his head and scents the air.  “I can smell them and it’s too early for Tony and Bruce.”  Coulson starts to get up, gun drawn.  “Phil, you can’t let them take me or her.”

Phil turns his wrist and offers it to Steve, who scents him like pack. “Over my dead body will anyone take you or that little girl.”

Phil exits the house, Steve sits on the bed with a gun of his own, determined to protect his girl. The last contraction is subsiding and he tries to focus on protection. A few minutes later, there’s a scuffle outside, a yelp and then Phil’s body is being dragged in by a man.  He throws him onto the living room floor and heads to the bedroom.  Steve’s ready to fire the gun, killing the man behind the mask, then the scent hits him.  “Bucky?”

The man’s big, not quite as tall as Steve, but just a broad. He’s in all black leather and his left arm is a metal of some kind.  His face is covered by goggles and a mask over his mouth and nose.  Brunette hair down to his shoulders acting as a curtain around his face.  He slowly pulls the goggles and mask off.  “Who the hell is Bucky?”  Those crystal blue eyes stare blankly at Steve.

Steve looks at him stricken and wants to scream, ‘you are,’ but another pain shoots up Steve’s back and the man in black looks terrified. “Oh god…”  Things happen in a whirlwind in the next couple of minutes, when Steve’s water breaks and a contraction so strong it makes him screams, falling back on the bed and dropping the gun to the floor.  “Please, please, please…no…not like this.”

The man drops his gun and comes to the bed. “You are in pain.  Why?”  Bucky is scenting the air and obviously confused by what he smells.  There’s a flicker in his eyes, like he recognizes something, but is unable to place it.

Steve looks at him incredulous. “Because I’m giving birth to _our_ daughter, you idiot.”

There’s a flicker in the man’s eyes again. “Our daughter?” He cocks his head to the side, looking at Steve, then leans in and nuzzles into Steve’s neck, scenting him.  Rubbing his face in Steve’s neck like he’s trying to crawl inside him.  The longer is goes on the more the contractions lessen in intensity.  “Why do you smell so good?  Why do you smell like mine?  Who are you?”

Steve chuckles, then sucks in a breath as more pain tightens his stomach. “We’re mates, Buck.  Why don’t you remember?”

Drawing back slowly, the man reaches up and pulls Steve’s shirt aside, revealing his mating mark. He reaches to his own shoulder to the mark he knows is under his uniform.  “Mate?  Why do you keep calling me Bucky?”

“That’s right, asshole…mate.” He points at Phil.  “Please tell me you didn’t kill him.”  Then he screams again.  “And you are Bucky.”

“Just knocked out.” He draws back.  “They told me to kill you and take the baby.”  Steve looks horrified.  Bucky looks around unsure and frightened. “I-I can’t.”  It’s like his orders are contradicted by his instincts and Steve can try to work with that.

The pain subsides and Steve leans forward and kisses the assassin. The man freezes then melts into it.  When Steve pulls away, Bucky looks back.  There’s a flicker and then a small recognition. “S-steve?”

The next contraction hits. “AAAAAAHHHHHHH….fuck….hurts…”

Suddenly, Bucky is grabbing his hands, leaning his forehead on Steve’s. “Breath.”  They start breathing together, tears streaming down Steve’s face.  The two stare at each other and Steve tries to will Bucky to remember who they are to each other.  Bucky seems to be struggling against something, but Steve can’t imagine what that might be.  “Why can’t I remember you right?”

“Don’t know…don’t care…just don’t leave me. We need you.  God I need you.”  Bucky kisses him again.  When the contraction eases, Bucky starts stripping, getting pajama pants from the drawer that Steve directs him to.  He leaves his chest bare and Steve removes his shirt too.  Steve tells him the skin to skin contact will ease some of Steve’s discomfort along with being surrounded by the scent of his mate.

Bucky only seems to understand part of what is being said. Everything that Steve is telling him makes sense, but also feels jumbled in his head.  He works to unscramble what he’s been told by Hydra and what he’s hearing from this beautiful man calling him mate.

The chaos that follows feels to Steve like hours, but is probably more like minutes. Phil wakes up, sees that Steve is in active labor, then sees Bucky come from the bathroom with a rag for Steve’s forehead.  Rubbing his own, Phil lets his eye’s focus, doing a double take.  “Sergeant Barnes?”

Steve grins, but then cringes. “Welcome to the party Phil.”  Bucky slips behind Steve, pulling the blond against his chest and wrapping his arms around the blond settling them on his extended belly.  Steve lets out a breath he’s been holding since they brought him out of the ice.  Phil leaves the room to get ice chips from the kitchen.

“Do I need to be concerned about you and another alpha?” Bucky is moving on pure instinct at this point because there aren’t memories attached to his actions.  He just knows that he needs to keep this man safe and protect him from…everyone.

Steve reaches around and smacks him in the back of the head. Another contraction hits and he cries out.  “Maybe you don’t…shit…remember this…son of a bitch…but nothing comes between…FUCK…true mates.”

“We are true mates?” Steve huffs and Bucky knows that means he’s getting annoyed; he doesn’t know how he knows that, but it’s nevertheless true.  Bucky grins back at him, kissing his temple.  “Mine.” 

The Asset was never allowed to have things, most especially a mate, so all of this feels new and overwhelming. However, it’s also good.  The Asset can feel it in his soul, this is good.  He doesn’t remember the last time he felt good about anything.  Feeling it now just reinforces the need to protect it.

Steve closes his eyes between contractions and the next thing he knows, Bruce is running into the room followed by everyone. Phil quickly shoos them out of the room to explain the new guy that’s sitting behind Steve, now out of all the leather and wearing a pair of Steve’s pajama pants and no shirt.  Natalia, Clint, Pepper, Tony, Fury and even Hill just stare at him like he’s lost his mind when Phil explains who the man is.  “But…he’s…what…”

Phil laughs. “I don’t mean that I understand how it’s possible, but that’s Sergeant James Barnes. That’s Steve’s alpha.”

With Steve leaning back into Bucky and Bruce coaching him through the birth, it all comes to a climax when the wail of a tiny baby girl filters through the house. Steve collapses into Bucky’s chest, exhausted and happy.  Bucky looks at the tiny girl in awe as Bruce cleans her gently and lays her on Steve’s chest.  “You did it Steve.  You brought her through everything safely.”  Bruce leaves the room, shutting the door, to give them privacy.  Those in the living room look at him horrified that he would trust the man that was sent to kill Steve.  Bruce knows, he was in that room and could smell the confusion layered with contentment.


	14. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and the Asset talk.

“Buck, we gotten talk.” He cradles his daughter against him and looks over his shoulder at his husband.  “You come barging in here, knocking out Coulson, telling me I’m your mission, you have to kill me, and then…well…this.”

Bucky relies on instinct, wrapping his arms around Steve and resting his hands on the baby. She’s so small and her scent is calming.  It brings out ever alpha instinct that the Asset has and he exudes protector.  Steve’s scent has changed from confused, but joyful, to confusion and pain.  Bucky doesn’t like that at all and wants it fixed.  “I…I…l…don’t remember, but when you called me Bucky and I smelled you, I knew you were mine.  I don’t remember having anything that was mine, but you are.”  He strokes up and down her little back.  “She’s ours.”

The last of the tension that Steve’s had, melts away. Whatever hold has been over Bucky, he’s fighting it and Steve can scent that he’s growing more and more content.  Steve doesn’t understand how he watched Bucky fall off the side of that train, but he’s sitting here now, cooing at big blue eyes with wispy dark hair.  The baby just keeps looking up at them both in what appears to be awe.  As long as the scent is content, she’ll stay that way.  “I already picked a name, but I can change it if you want me to.”  Steve blushes because he didn’t think he was going to have to check with anyone about her name, but he smiles softly.  If he was going to have to check with anyone, he’s more than ecstatic that it’s Bucky.

“I…I want to remember everything, but all I have in my head right now is what they put there.” Steve sits up to turn, Bucky pulls himself away reluctantly and crosses the room.  He’s pulling in on himself and Steve wants that to stop.  The baby starts to fuss.

“Who is they?” Steve knows the answer, before Bucky can answer.  He lifts her up to his shoulder and gently pats her back to sooth her.

“Hydra…” He turns to look out the window into the dark.  “I understand if you want me to leave and…”

“Have you lost what little of your mind you have?” Bucky turns and sees the twinkle in Steve’s eyes; he’s being a shit and something bubbles up from deep inside.  Bucky knows, he feels it, this is who Steve is.  He’s a determined little shit and if crossed will fight like a hell cat.  It’s the truest thing and it’s been buried so deep and so long.  “If you walk out now, I’m just going to have to chase you down.  I just went through a day of labor to give birth to OUR daughter and you are _not_ leaving.”  The conviction that the Asset hears in Steve’s voice is familiar.  This is where he’s supposed to be, not with those that put him in that chair.

The baby snuffles and moves because she can feel the upset in her daddy. Bucky looks at her and smiles softly.  He can’t remember the last time he smiled for any reason.  His life has been pain and order, but this is not any of that. “What name did you pick?” Steve moves her around so she can learn to suckle.  Bucky watches as she latches on.  “Jesus… _I_ have a daughter.”  The Asset can’t remember the last time he had anything that was his or the last time he said ‘I.’

“Yeah, you do and her name is Sarah Winifred.” Steve watches, but doesn’t see recognition.  “I named her after our moms, Buck.”  Bucky comes back over and sits on the edge of the bed, running a metal finger carefully down her cheek.  If he’s caught, he’ll be punished and forget all of this and next time they send him after Steve and the baby, he might succeed.  Shaking his head he looks up at Steve.

“She’s so tiny and perfect.” Steve leans in, kissing him lightly.  For the past 70 years no one has looked at him with such softness and love.  No one has touches him with any care and he wonders if he has the right to want this.  “You used to be smaller.”

Steve smiles. “Yeah, I was.”  He reaches up.  “You used to have shorter hair.”

Bucky looks pained. “Hydra didn’t think to take the Winter Soldier to the beauty shop.”

Steve cracks up at that. “You’re still a smart ass.”  He runs his fingers through Bucky’s hair.  “I like it long.”


	15. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and his family talk.

For the last several hours the others, minus Bruce, are discussing how to handle whatever the hell is going on. Finally, it’s Pepper that states the obvious.  “That is Steve’s mate, his true mate, it doesn’t matter how he’s here, what matters is if we try to separate them, Steve will run with him.”  She looks out the window.  “I know if I lost my mate, and he came back like some kind of miracle, I wouldn’t think twice about taking down anyone that got in our way.”

The bedroom door opens and Bucky goes into the kitchen, not paying any attention to the people watching him, he fixes Steve a sandwich and water then grabbing an apple as he walks out of the kitchen and back to the bedroom. They gape at him walking around wearing Iron Man pajama pants and no shirt.  Tony looks at the arm and really wants to get his hands on it.  

Bucky leaves the door ajar and they wandered over, easing into the room. Steve’s eating like he hasn’t in days and Bucky holds little Sarah against his chest, telling her that he’s going to take care of her and protect her and daddy.  As they press more into the room Bucky looks up growling.  “Sssshhhh Buck, they’re family.”  He points at Hill.  “Except her, I don’t know what she’s doing here.”  He scowls at her and turns back to his husband and daughter.  “The rest of you are going to have to look at her while one of us holds her.  We don’t feel secure with letting her away from us yet.”

Fury sits down in a chair next to the bed. “Cap, we’re going to have to talk about this.”  He indicates Bucky.  “We don’t know anything about...”

Steve starts to get out of bed, Bucky lays a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “He’s right Stevie.  I need to know who I am.  Right now, the only thing I know is that you’re mine and she’s ours.”  Steve gives him the sappiest grin from the automatic use of Bucky’s nickname for him.

Steve glares at the room. “If anyone tries to do anything to him or tries to talk to him without me in the room, I will rip every one of you apart.”

Hill stays by the door knowing her previous actions make her the outsider. Natalia looks over Bucky’s arm to see the tiny, beautiful face of their daughter.  Clint is aching to hold her, but just watches from the window.  Coulson walks up to Bucky, smiling.  “You did good Sergeant.”  Bucky looks at him, sniffing the air and gets a calming, nonthreatening scent.  He tentatively smiles back.  “You and Captain Rogers have been mated for a very long time.  We are all lucky that she survived being frozen for so long.”

Bucky looks over at Steve. “What does he mean frozen?”  Bucky has visions of his cryo tube and wonders if that’s how Steve was kept.

Steve looks at the room then at Bucky. “I didn’t think I’d have to do this with an audience and was kinda hoping it would come later.”  Phil has the decency to look embarrassed.  “In 1945 you fell from a train.”  Bucky squints at him, trying to pull memories, but he doesn’t remember.  “I didn’t know I was pregnant and I took a plane into the ocean and was frozen under the ice for about 70 years.”

Bucky looks terrified, then annoyed. He doesn’t know where the ideas are coming from, but all of them feel true and real.  “I fell and you freeze yourself.  Yeah, that sounds about right.”  Then the reality hits him.  He looks down at the tiny human in his arms.  “She’s a miracle.”

Everyone leaves the room and Steve tries to explain better than before. “I know you don’t remember any of this, but you have to understand, when you went off the side of that train, I knew that it was only a matter of time before the broken bond took me too.” Bucky pushes his hair behind his ear, listening and watching their daughter nurse from her daddy again.  “I didn’t know I was pregnant until I woke up a little over seven months ago.” 

Bucky reaches over, playing with the wispy hair on his daughter’s head. “A few months ago they pulled me out of cryo and told me I had a mission. I was to find you, I was given intel on Stark’s tower, and I was to eliminate you.”  He turns away from Steve because even though he doesn’t remember, he doesn’t want to disappoint him.  “I could never break the security.  Then that woman, Jessica Falsworth, was able to get in.  An agent attacked her and took her bag; they handed the information off to me.  None of it meant anything to me.”  He gets up and walks to the window again, looking out at the darkness feeling an oppressive guilt because he feels like Steve’s name should have triggered something.  “They told me my new mission was to find you and wait until you had the baby.”  He sighs and Steve could swear he’s crying.  “Then I was supposed to kill you and bring her in to be tested for the serum.”  Steve shivers at the idea and holds her closer as he burps her.  “I would have too, if I hadn’t caught your scent first.”  He looks back at the bed and tries to hold back the soft smile, like he doesn’t think he deserves it.  “I want to know who I am and who I was to you.”

“Who you are.” Bucky looks confused.  “You may not really know me or yourself, but you are still mine.”  Bucky starts to object.  “Listen Buck, I know you aren’t the same guy and may never be, but you are mine.  You are my mate, my husband and the father of Sarah Rogers-Barnes.  That’s all I need to know.”

He comes back to the bed, snuggling close. “Did I ever deserve you?”  Steve barks a laugh that makes Sarah jump.  They sooth her back down together.  “Tell me what you’ve been doing since you came out of the ice.”  If he can’t remember the past, at least he can know Steve’s present.  Steve spends the next few hours telling Bucky about all the people that loved and protected him through the pregnancy.  He also warned him about Hill, to which he growls making Steve chuckle.

“You may not remember yourself, but you don’t act much different.” Steve snuggles down into the bed, with Sarah between them, they stare at a long lost love found again.  Occasionally, Bucky will squint like he sees something familiar.  Steve just lets him look.

“She tried to scent and claim you, Steve, she’s lucky I haven’t gone out there and kicked her ass.” Steve leans over and kissed Bucky.

“I know you can’t say it yet, but I want you to know, I love you and always will.”


	16. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next morning.

Pepper and Tony quietly open the door the next morning to find the baby cuddled in between her parents, sleeping quietly. “He doesn’t look like scary assassin guy.”  Tony realizes that he doesn’t know what he would do if anything ever happened to Pepper.  Steve’s taught him that when something is important, you don’t let it pass you by.  Snaking his arms around Pepper, he pulls her against him.

She leans her head back on his shoulder. “No, he looks like happy daddy guy.”  Both parents wake slowly and the baby grunts, causing the two at the door to laugh quietly. 

The two men wake and Steve’s face is luminescent when he sees Bucky. “You really are here.”  Bucky looks at him confused at first.  “I halfway convinced myself I’d been hallucinating.”

The assassin snorts and James Buchannan Barnes comes roaring out like no time has passed. “I swear to god Stevie, you got this active imagination that just won’t quit.” He picks the now awake Sarah up and Steve looks at him bewildered.  “I’m going to change her before you try to feed her.  Maybe you want to get showered.”  Steve looks on because everything that just came out of his mouth was so Bucky.  Bucky’s out the door before it hits him.  Leaning in, he scents his daughter, turning he goes back into the bedroom.  Pepper and Tony, who have backed out of the doorway, along with the rest of the half sleeping agents watch.  “Steve…”

Steve jumps up, going to his husband. “Buck?  What’s wrong?”

“She smells like your ma and my sister Becca.” He has flashes of things in his head, things that haven’t been there in such a long time.

Tearily, Steve nods and whispers. “yeah, she does.”

Steve sits in the living room, after his shower, and feeds Sarah propped against Bucky’s chest on the sofa. Pepper and Phil fix breakfast for everyone and the others just sit, watching intently.  Betas have the ability to carry a child, but can’t give birth naturally and no one in the room has ever seen a baby nurse.  It’s finally Fury that speaks.  “Are there anymore coming?”

Bucky’s has his chin resting on Steve’s shoulder, looking over and down at his daughter. He doesn’t move other than to kiss the side of Steve’s neck occasionally causing the blond to purr.  “No, it was just me.  I can tell you where the base is, if you want.”  It’s said as an afterthought because Bucky’s focus is on his husband and daughter.

Fury seems shocked. “You don’t have a problem with us wiping their asses off the planet?”

Bucky looks up, but rest his metal hand on Sarah’s head. “They ordered me to kill my husband. I’ll fucking help you.”

When they sit down to eat, Bucky cradles Sarah to let Steve enjoy breakfast with his family. He watches this beautiful man, that he’s starting to remember and asking himself if he deserves to have this.  Steve laughs at something Clint says and looks at Bucky.  He can’t feel it, but he knows.  “Stop.”  Bucky startles and the rest of the table freezes.  “Stop thinking you don’t deserve this.  If you start questioning it, you’ll start being sacrificing and leave us.  I won’t have that happen.”

Bucky grins. “Did we always read each other this well?”

“You have no fucking idea.”


	17. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Returning to the Tower.

When they return to the Tower a week later, Bucky allows himself to be checked over by doctors and Tony. Tony runs a scan of the arm and tells Bucky he can do better.  He talks to Bucky about the hack job that Hydra did on his system and how if given the go ahead, he’ll start to build a replacement.  Bucky has no idea why all of these people want to help him, but suspects that it has to do with Steve.  The Howlies were the same.  When Steve had shown up and they’d gotten the chance to know the guy behind the shield, they’d followed him into the jaws of death, knowing he’d bring them out the other side.

Steve gets settled back on his floor with Sarah and Pepper has JARVIS order supplies for the new member of the family…Bucky. Steve knows he doesn’t have to thank her, but give her a hug anyway, expressing what he can’t in words.  “You’d make a great omega, Pepper.”  She sees it for what it is, the greatest compliment that Steve could give anyone.  His sub-gender is his foundation and contrary to what her society thinks, Steve is proof that the world lost too much when omegas died out.

JARVIS orders more food and clothing for Bucky. There’s no need to order anything for the baby because he took care of that when notified that the team was returning.

‘Welcome back Steven. And welcome to the world Sarah.’ 

Pepper grins and Steve talks to JARVIS for a few minutes telling him all about Bucky. Sarah is placed in the bassinet in Steve’s bedroom and he goes to shower.  By the time he’s out, Bucky is bent over the bassinet just staring at his daughter.  “She’s amazing.”  Steve goes to his alpha and nuzzles into his chest, breathing deep and relaxing.

Steve looks wiped out, so Bucky puts him to bed and goes to shower. When Bucky comes in, Steve is already asleep.  Standing for a minute to just look, he finally convinces himself to get in bed too.  Once settled, Steve scoots over, taking Bucky’s metal arm and draping it over his waist.  Bucky pulls him back against him and buries his nose in the nape of Steve’s neck, inhales deeply and sleeps.

The following morning Bucky wakes with a start, looking around. Steve is gone and Sarah isn’t in the bassinet.  Jumping to his feet, he staggers half-asleep into the living room.  He isn’t used to sleeping, so it takes a minute to acclimate himself to his surroundings.  He doesn’t panic because the whole of the floor smells like content, happy omega.

Steve is in the kitchen, walking around fixing breakfast while nursing the baby. Bucky stops at the entry to the kitchen and just watches.  It’s like Steve isn’t new to this parenting thing, he’s completely comfortable feeding Sarah and prepping breakfast.  He’s a natural.  Steve’s talking to her as he works gathering ingredients as she eats.  “Now, papa didn’t used to like chicken, but I wonder if that changed.  We used to boil everything, so things were usually dry with no flavor.  Maybe if I get one of those rotisserie chickens for dinner he’ll like that.” 

She finishes on one side and Steve moves her to the other and continues his running commentary. “Or, I could just do steaks.  I mean, who doesn’t like a good steak.  Well, unless you’re a vegetarian or one of those vegan people.”  He shivers.  “Bruce had me try that vegan cheese.  There’s something wrong with cheese that doesn’t melt.”  That’s all Bucky can hear before laughing.

“Do you always talk to yourself?” Steve turns quickly, seeing Bucky disheveled state, he smiles warmly.

“I was talking to our daughter, not myself.” Bucky comes over, kissing Sarah’s head, then kissing Steve.  The kiss could turn heated, but both men step away, flushed and wide eyed.  Neither want to push the other to do something they aren’t ready for.

“How are you feeling?” Bucky’s concern is evident, but Steve’s pheromones spread a warm presence into the room.

“I feel good. Super soldier healing and I’m back to my old, pre-pregnant self.”  Sarah finishes and Steve starts to move her to his shoulder, but Bucky takes the burp rag and the baby and begins rubbing circles into her back like Steve had done the day before.  “How are you feeling?”

Steve’s asking for more than just the obvious. “Still confused and big holes in my memories.  Was your ma a little, tiny, blond lady that was scary as shit?”

Steve barks a laugh. “Yeah, that was ma.”

“I thought so. Had a dream about her.  I don’t usually dream, but it had something to do with you being in a fight and she was really mad at us.”  Steve continues to laugh while he mixes the pancake batter.

“She spent a lot of time mad at us because I’d start a fight and you’d have to finish it. We got teased as kids for being true mates so early, but ma used to say that they were just jealous because we weren’t just mates, but best friends and not many people had that.”  An arm slips around his waist and he hears a tiny burp from Sarah.

“I think she’s asleep again. You want her in the bassinet?”  Steve shakes his head.

“There’s a door a little further down that hall. It’s the nursery.”  Bucky nods and walks away. 

The sudden reality of the situation hits Steve full force, maybe it’s the hormones, maybe it’s the exhaustion, but something inside him gives. He calmly turns the stove off and slowly sinks to the floor.  That’s where Bucky finds him a few minutes later, sobbing uncontrollably. 


	18. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys talk and a team is formed.

Bucky carries Steve to the sofa, cradling him in his lap and lets him cry. Once Steve has his emotions under control, he doesn’t raise his head from Bucky’s neck.  Bucky rubs soothing circles over his back and waits for Steve to talk.  It’s been over a week and Bucky doesn’t remember much, but it surprises him that it took this long for Steve to break.  The only question is: what does that mean for Bucky?  Where will he go when Steve sends him away?  Will he get to see his daughter?

Steve can’t feel whatever is going through Bucky, but he can scent that his alpha is resigned and terrified emotionally. “I think we should talk.”  Bucky just hums and the resignation surges.  “Whatever is going on in your brain, I need to know.”

Bucky doesn’t speak for several minutes. When he does finally speak, Steve doesn’t understand.  “Will you still let me see Sarah?”

Steve sits up, looking into the eyes that he lost so long ago, eyes that hold his whole world. Those eyes are sad now.  “Why…what…Bucky, where are you going?”

“That’s what this is, right? You just realized what I am and you don’t want me near you or Sarah.” Then there’s panic.  “I swear to you, I would never hurt her.  I don’t think I could.  Please Stevie, please tell me I can still see her…”

There’s more, but Steve cuts him off with a kiss. Bucky clings to him because if this is all he gets, he’s going to make it count.  Lifting his head, Steve smiles softly, caressing Bucky’s cheek.  “I don’t know what you think is happening here, but I’m not sending you away.”  Resting his forehead against his husband’s, Steve chuckles lowly.  “What that was all about is everything I ever wanted has happened and I couldn’t contain it.  I mean how often did we ever get what we wanted, Buck?”  He looks at this man, holding him like he’s precious.  “You probably don’t remember, but life was tough for us back then: not enough food, not enough medicine, and me trying to die every time the weather changed.  It was rough, but I watched you walking out of the kitchen, where we do have enough food, with our daughter, who is perfect in every way, and I just…”

Bucky reaches up, running his fingers through Steve’s hair. “You had to expend all that emotion.”  Steve nods.  “You’re right, I don’t remember everything, but fundamentally everything I need to know is that somewhere deep inside, I know we belong together and that little girl is never going to have a rough time like you say we did.  No matter what Hydra put in my head, you and she are my priority now.” He stops and sighs.  “They may come for me though.”

Steve leans in, kissing Bucky’s forehead, then cheeks, then lips. “Let them try.”

 

Natasha looks up at Barton and Tony. They’ve been back in the Tower for two weeks and security has been upgraded again.  Not only do they need to keep any leaks about Steve and Sarah under wraps, but they have to keep the Soldier safe.  Bringing down Hydra was supposed to solve this, but it seems that they do have many heads that keep trying to strike.

“If we don’t do something about these Hydra cells, they will never be safe.” The elevator opens and Fury walks off with Peggy on his arm.

“You know Director Fury, you can be a likable person when you don’t let your alpha get in the way.” Peggy is grinning and Tony starts to chuckle.

“I don’t ever know if you’re complimenting me or insulting me.” At that, Tony nearly spits his coffee across the table.

“Welcome to my upbringing, Nick.” Peggy doesn’t say anything else, just sits near Natasha patting her hand.

Somewhere along the way, during their time together at the cottage, Natasha has become pack to Steve and everyone just accepts her new station. “How are you today, my dear?”

“Worried.” Peggy nods and they get down to business.

After what feels like hours of debate, Tony holds up his hand to try and get everyone to quiet down. Natasha sees his hand, but wants her two cents to be heard.  “I’m just saying that we have to wipe this organization off the map because they won’t be safe in this world until we do.”  It’s the desperation in her tone that says more than her words.

The elevator opens and Steve and Bucky come out, carrying Sarah. Tony claps his hands, rubbing them together.  “I get dibs on the baby.”  He’s up and moving before anyone else can.  “Gimme, I need baby snuggles.”

Steve snickers and Bucky looks confused. “Are they always going to be like this with our daughter?”

The whole room answers. “Yes!”

Peggy gets up to hug Steve and Bucky’s eyes go wide. “Peg?”  Steve beams at him for remembering one of their biggest supports from way back.

She comes to Bucky in a non-threatening way, and extends her arms. Bucky lets himself be folded into a familiar hug.  She strokes his hair and rumbles low in her chest.  His answering rumble makes Steve tear up.  “My sweet boy.”  She pulls back, cradling his face in her hands.  “You have been missed.”  He pulls her in again, hugging her tightly.

Old pack turns to new pack. Bucky clears his throat.  “If I work with you, we can do this a lot faster.  I know where the bases are and I know how to get in.”

Steve takes his hand, squeezing. They’ve talked about this and Steve understands Bucky’s need to be part of these missions.  Sarah starts to get fussy and Tony starts to bounce.  “Cap, you okay with this?”

Steve comes over, taking Sarah. “Buck and I talked about it and yeah, it’s what he needs to do.”  He goes to sit in one of the chairs and starts nursing his daughter.  Peggy watches Bucky, who looks at Steve like there’s nothing else in the world.  Whether he remembers or not, it’s the same look she remembers all those decades ago.

“James, are you well enough to do this?” Bucky looks over at Peggy.

“I don’t remember much, but I know that I need this, Pegs.”

She nods, turning back to the table. “Well then ladies and gentlemen, we have a mission to plan.”


	19. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hydra and the boys' bond.

Over the next several months, a small team made up of Iron Man, Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hulk and a few select SHIELD agents, take down cell after cell of Hydra. One Hydra operative tries to use words to trigger the Soldier, but before he can finish, Widow incapacitates him. 

They find out through questionable means, thank you Natasha and Coulson, that there is a journal in a bunker that details the programming of the Soldier. Bucky stays home, caring for Steve and Sarah, while the rest of the team heads to Siberia. It was a fight at first, but Steve made him understand the reasoning.

“They are breaking into a Hydra base, filled with people that know how to trigger you!” Steve’s carrying Sarah, cuddled to his chest, so he doesn’t scream, but it’s a near thing.

“Steve, I know that, but they are breaking into a Hydra base that I know really well.” He tries to come to Steve, but he backs away with Sarah.  “You didn’t have a problem with me going on the other missions.  Why is this one any different?”

“The way that Natasha explained this place, it’s the epicenter of your conditioning. It’s not just one or two people that know how to trigger you; it’s the whole goddamn base!”  Steve wants to make him understand the absolute and complete fear that this brings out, but they can’t feel each other anymore and it’s frustrating and terrifying all at once.

Bucky hangs his head. “Stevie…”

“If something happened and we lost you, I don’t know that I’d survive this time. Sarah is bonded to you as her father and you have a responsibility to us now.  Putting yourself at unnecessary risk isn’t worth it and this is unnecessary risk!”  He’s being selfish and knows it, but the idea that something would happen to take Bucky away makes everything in him cry out in a primal way.

Bucky sees it for what it is: desperation. “Okay, I won’t go.”  Steve is surprised that he gave in, but the surprise doesn’t stop him from going to his husband and snuggling into him.  Sarah squeaks and the two men laugh.

They cuddle on the sofa for a time when Steve speaks. “I think it’s time we talk about our bond.”

While the team is gone, Steve and Bucky renew their mating. The bond is weak, as they can’t feel the other, and they believe that if they re-bond, it will come back.  It does mean being intimate with each other, which they haven’t done since Bucky came back.  “Are you sure about this, Steve?”

“If you’re still afraid you’re going to hurt me, let me assure you that I know you won’t.” He sits on the bed next to Bucky.

“You know I’m still not him.” He has more memories and remembers their first mating, but he still doesn’t and may never be the Bucky that Steve remembers.

“I know and I don’t care. Tell me that you can’t feel the pull like I do and we don’t ever have to do this.”  True mates can’t deny their connection mated or not.  It’s a pull down to the very soul; a connection that can’t be ignored.

Bucky looks down at the floor. “You know I can’t tell you that.  You know I can feel it too.”  He takes Steve’s hand.  “I just want to know that you’re mine again.”  He knows he’s not explaining it right and it’s coming out like he’s an alpha asshole.  “When I look at you and can’t tell what you’re feeling, it aches somethin fierce.”  He pulls Steve’s hand to his chest.  “I need to feel you.”

Steve turns, cupping Bucky’s cheek. “I need that too.”  He leans in and kisses his husband.  “I’ve loved you since I was six, Buck.  I don’t know who I am without that.”

Bucky gets up, pulling his shirt over his head. Steve does the same and scoots up the bed.  Bucky crawls over to him, hovering just above, looking down at human perfection and his own personal heaven.  “Our first time I was so afraid of hurting you, just like I am now.  I remember you looking up at me, smiling and saying…”

“Finish it, jerk.” Bucky’s eyes light up when Steve says it just like he did then.  Steve winks at him.  “So, finish it jerk.”

There’s a growl from Bucky and he pins Steve to the bed, nuzzling his neck. “Be mine?”

It’s another echo from the past because it’s the same question Bucky asked on Steve’s 16th birthday.  “Always and to the end of the line.”

“Til the end of the line.”

The mating does exactly what they believed it will and the bond awakens again. The unexpected result is many of Bucky’s memories come back with it.  It’s overwhelming at first, but once he stops fighting, the memories settle in like they never left.

Hydra never stood a chance against this.


	20. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soft fluffy stuff.

Sarah is six months old and has her daddies, and everyone else, wrapped around her finger. She’s a beautiful mix of her parents and Peggy was right, she’s going to be a heartbreaker someday.  She crawls over to Peggy, who lifts her into her lap.  She watches Steve and Bucky on the balcony, holding a child that at one time, she could have been Aunt Peggy to, but now, she hopes that Sarah will call her Nana. 

Later in the afternoon, Peggy sits reading to her, while Pepper fixes a snack and Steve and Bucky nap. Peggy suspects that isn’t all they are doing, but she’s happy for them.  Having Bucky back has changed Steve in ways that surprise the older woman.  He’s become softer, gentler, but maybe that’s having a baby of his own or maybe it’s something more.  Peggy remembers the first time she held her son and how it changes something fundamentally.  It’s in that moment she misses her omega terribly.  All those years ago, meeting a lovely woman that took Peggy’s heart by storm and their beautiful life together was a gift, but the ache never stops.  Looking down at the angel in her arms, she kisses Sarah’s head.  “You are perfect.”

Pepper comes out of the kitchen. “That she is.  I’ve never been around a happier baby.”  Pepper takes Sarah and puts her on the play mat.  Tony had made one with all manner of stimulating things, but also includes mathematic and scientific equations.  He said you can never start them too early.  Pepper looks out the window.  “Do you think that Steve will ever be able to be safe out there?”

Peggy ponders that for a minute. “I think all it will take is a look from his husband for everyone to back off.”  They laugh, but there’s sadness in her eyes.  “When I was a girl, there was so much about society that was repressed, but the one thing that was just a given was that sub-genders were equals.”  She looks down at Sarah.  “It seems strange that it’s 2014 and a lone omega can’t go out and be accepted for who he is.”

Steve and Bucky get up later to find Peggy and Pepper laughing at Coulson, laying on his back on the floor, feet in the air and Sarah, on her tummy, balanced on them. Their daughter is full belly laughing causing the two women to giggle.  Bucky’s arms slip around Steve’s waist.  “How did we get this lucky a second time?”

Steve leans in, kissing him softly. “I wish I knew.”


	21. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And more fluffy stuff.

The trip to Siberia is a success and with the help of a trusted few, Bucky is freed from any control that Hydra might have had. Natasha tries the words numerous times and each time the lack of affect is the same.  Bucky just grins and picks Steve up, spinning him around.  The longer he’s with Steve and time spent with the team, the more he becomes Bucky.  A little quieter, a little less brash, but Steve can see the man he’s always loved. 

There are still days when he seems far away, but those were getting fewer and farther between. On those days Steve backs away and leaves Bucky to care for Sarah.  Before long, the faraway stare is gone and he’s talking animatedly with their daughter.  Bucky knows what Steve’s doing on those days, but he gets unencumbered time with his daughter and love and respect from his husband.  It’s all worth it to be here now. 

Steve dotes on both his husband and daughter, spending time everyday with just the three of them, but evenings are family dinners. The full team, plus Peggy, Phil and Fury, enjoy the time spent together and Sarah never grumbles about being passed around the table and gets food from everyone’s plate.  Somehow this strange group has become pack and Steve is what holds it together.  Fury watches this in fascination and how unaware Steve seems to be.  He suspects that Steve isn’t unaware, but doesn’t play up how important he is.

After dinner on a normal evening, Fury sits with Peggy. “This is how it used to be?”

Peggy has watched Fury and knows what he’s asking. “You mean the omegas being the center of the pack?”  He nods.  “So unlike what alphas would have us believe these days.”  He cocks an eyebrow and smirks.  “Yes Director, this is how it’s supposed to be.  Sometimes just one omega, but most times it was more.  Packs weren’t just about family, they were about bonds.  Steve has created these bonds through his pheromones and everyone feels that they belong because of him.”

“Does he know?” Peggy laughs.

“Of course he knows.” She leans back, watching the rest of the pack laughing over a pie that Steve made earlier that day.  “He’d never say it out loud.  The same way everyone else is aware, but would never say it.  Pack isn’t about voicing it, it’s about bond acknowledgement.”


	22. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes I end up with too many fluffy chapters. Here's more fluffy stuff.

Peggy spends even more time at the Tower now because she needs to be near her pack. Her son and his family live in England and she needs this at this stage of her life.  As she sits, with Sarah in her lap, feeding her mashed peas, Bucky is the first to make her hopes come true.  He comes from the kitchen, carrying dessert.  Pepper helps dish up the ice cream and Bucky looks over at his daughter.  “If you play your cards right, Princess, Nana may let you steal some of her ice cream.”  Peggy tears up, hugging the little girl closer.

Tony is the biggest surprise, mostly to himself, he’s never been a kid person, but Sarah seems to be the exception. He carries her around and tells her all the things he’s going to build for her.  She just giggles and looks at everything with big wide eyes.  It makes Tony think about kids of his own and wonders if Pepper ever thinks about that.  It would be a hardship for her, so Tony doesn’t bring it up.  It isn’t his place to ask her to go through that for him.

Pepper comes into the lab with Sarah in her arms. Tony looks up and stops what he’s doing.  Pepper kisses the baby’s cheek.  “We came to say hi.  Steve and Bucky are in the gym sparring and I told them I would feed this little angel lunch.”

Tony gets a soft, sappy smile. “Think you have room for one more?”

Pepper looks playfully shocked. “Tony Stark is going to leave his lab for us?”  She looks at Sarah, who grins up with her new tooth.  “You are a miracle worker, Sarah Barnes.”

Tony leans over kissing Pepper. “Stop being a smartass, you’re teaching her bad manners.”  Tony leaves the lab, boarding the lift with them.  “And you’re going to have her longer than lunch.  You know what happens when those two spar.”  Pepper snorts, causing Sarah to giggle.


	23. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve comes out and there's a surprise.

When Sarah’s almost 9 months old, Steve makes a decision, with the support of everyone on the team and the new and improved SHIELD; he wants to finally come out and make a statement. Pepper set everything up in one of the many conference halls in Stark Tower.  The team, dressed in their uniforms, attend.  Nick and Phil are there, and Peggy Carter makes a rare appearance. 

The press is vibrating with excitement at the idea that Captain America really is out of the ice, really is alive, and it seems ready to take his position back. Bucky stands back stage with Steve, who clutches Sarah to him.  “I’m not sure I can do this.”

Bucky leans in kissing him. He’s known all morning that Steve’s about to come out of his skin.  He’s been feeling the anxiety right along with him.  “You don’t have to.  We can go back upstairs and forget all of this.”

Steve gives him his bitch face. “You know I can’t do that.  If Sarah presents as an omega, I don’t want her in a world where she’s in constant danger.  She’ll be only one of two.”

A voice from behind, startles them out of their little bubble. The scent is the first thing to invade their senses.  It’s an omega.  “She’ll be one of three.”

They turn to find Natasha coming over. Sarah reaches out and Nat takes her, snuggling her into her chest.  “Nat?”

Nat looks ashamed. “I’m sorry.  I know it would have made things easier, but this is something I had to be ready to say and I needed to know I could trust you.”

Steve looks at her, but doesn’t feel anger. Bucky doesn’t know what to say.  He can smell her scent, but it has no affect on him because Steve’s always been his one and only.  He does fear what this will mean for Nat in the general population.  Luckily the Avengers will be far enough away from the reporters on stage that they won’t scent her and Steve is wearing blockers that Tony developed.

“Nat, I’m not upset with you. I’m upset for you because you thought you had to hide.  I don’t understand how this is possible though.”  She looks over at Bucky and he knows.  Steve feels the anger rise up in his mate.  “Bucky?”

The ex-assassin growls. “Hydra did this.”

Steve looks between the two. “I don’t understand.”

Nat kisses Sarah’s head. “They were trying to make their spies irresistible.  I’m the only one that it worked on.”

“Jesus Nat.” She kisses Sarah again and hands her back to Steve. 

“Just wanted you to know that you and possibly Sarah are not alone. Not sure I can make the statement you are today, not yet anyway.”  She walks away.  Bucky wraps Steve in his arms, letting him feel how much he’s loved.

“How did she hide this?” Steve’s leaning into Bucky.

“Most likely she’s been making her own blockers.” He rocks Steve in his arms, kissing his neck near the bond mark, which immediately calms his husband.

 

Pepper takes the podium. “Thank you for coming today.”  As she speaks, the team comes out.  Bucky walks out in a new uniform because Tony didn’t like that he had to keep wearing what Hydra gave him.  Bucky carries Sarah with him.  There is a moment when the press becomes distracted by the baby and murmurs of confusion can be heard, but everyone on stage ignores them. 

When Pepper starts to speak again, they refocus. “Ladies and gentlemen, there has been a lot written and speculated about Captain Rogers.  He’s decided that it’s time for him to speak, on the record.”  She glares at them.  “There are some ground rules that you will follow or you will be removed from the room.  First, you will let Captain Rogers have his say and will not interrupt until he’s done.  Second, he will only answer questions put to him in a respectful way.  Third, if you refuse to be respectful in your questioning, you will lose access to Stark Tower and the Avengers.”  She tries to smile, but it’s tense.  “Ladies and gentlemen, Captain Steve Rogers.”

Steve steps out, nerves evident, but moves with confidence. He adjusts the microphone and lays the paper down on the podium.  He looks over at Bucky and Sarah, smiling, then back to the reporters.  “Thank you for coming today.  Before I take your questions, I want to let you know where I came from.”  Sarah squeals, Bucky laughs, Steve joins in.  “When I grew up, there were all sub-genders.  There were alphas, betas and omegas.  All three were important to the working of society.  Omegas weren’t second class citizens like some believe; they were hard working, important members of society.  Coming out of the ice over a year ago, I found that omegas had died out.  That saddened me, but what made me even sadder was how the last of them were treated.  Society turned on them, made them property.  The laws didn’t change, just the mindset of the general population.  No one challenged it because there were so few and people wanted them.”  He looks down at the paper.  “I’m sorry that society came to this and that children can’t be born the way they were meant to be.  I believe that every beta that has put themselves through gestation of a baby and then to go through that difficult surgery is a hero.  I believe that we were all meant to be equal and appreciated.”  He looks again at Bucky and Sarah.  “I say all of that really to say this.  I’m an omega.”

The room erupts into chaos and the SHIELD agents move forward to block the crowd of reports trying to get closer to the stage. Steve stands his ground.  Pepper comes to the microphone, holding up her hands and pointing at several reporters being too aggressive.  The agents, alphas and betas, grab the reporters and pull them from the room. 

There had been a meeting with the agents that would be in the room. Steve told them what was going to happen; they’d been professional towards him.  One had scented the air, but when Bucky looked in his direction, he’d cowered.  Nick had talked to them extensively about what they’d heard or read about omegas, then explained that what they knew wasn’t correct.  Steve sat with them for hours, talking about when he grew up, answering their questions.  By the end, they said they’d follow Steve anywhere and follow his orders to the letter.  Steve just had that way with people.

When the room is once again under control, Steve steps back to the microphone. The reporters that are left are sitting on the edge of their seats, wanting to know the story.  “When I came out of the ice over a year ago, I was as surprised as anyone else.  See, I was lucky enough to have found my true mate at the age of six.”  There’s a gasp.  “Yes, true mates did exist and it’s a bond that can’t be broken even if marked by someone else.  The true mate claim will always override an attempt at a new bond.” The reporters are writing furiously.  “We mated when I was 16 and married when I was 18.”  He pauses, checking the paper, clearing his throat.  “When a true mate dies, the mate left behind dies too.”  Hands go up and Steve waves them down.  “I’m getting to that.”  There are smiles and the hands go back down.  “The only thing that can keep the omega or alpha alive is a child.”  There’s another gasp and Bucky comes over with Sarah.  Steve takes her and she squeals again, kicking her legs, making the Avengers laugh.  “This is Sarah Winifred Rogers-Barnes, my daughter.”  Bucky’s arm goes around Steve’s waist.  “And this is my mate and husband, James Barnes.”

Bucky leans forward. “But you can call me Bucky.” 

There’s a split second of silence, then an eruption from the reporters. They’re screaming his name and Pepper steps forward.  She knows all of them by name, but saw Jessica earlier, calling on her first.  After everything that had happened and the loss of her notes from the first meeting, Jessica decided not to print anything about Steve.  When she met Sergeant Barnes, she was even more convinced that she couldn’t tell Steve’s story without telling Bucky’s, so she’s currently working on a book about the two, with their approval and help.

The reporters quiet down to listen. “Captain Rogers, it’s good to see you again.”  He smiles and nods.  “Is Sarah the reasons you weren’t in public before now?”

“She is.” He indicates the Avengers and agents.  “These people are my family and when I came out of the ice, they protected me.  They were afraid and so was I, that if I went out in public some alpha knothead would try to forcibly bond me.  Normally that wouldn’t have been an issue, but being pregnant I couldn’t take that risk.”

Bucky leans in again. “Steve being at risk will happen over my dead body, or the other alpha’s.”  There’s a nervous chuckle from the crowd.  There’s something about the Winter Soldier that still creates fear and the look on Bucky’s face tells them that he’ll do whatever it takes to protect his husband.  Steve blushes, but grins at the protective stance.

The next question is also expected. The report seems timid at first, but when Steve smiles at him, he visibly relaxes.  “Captain Rogers, sir, first welcome back and thank you for speaking out and second, why now?  I mean, sir, you could have probably used blockers or something, but you chose to tell the public.”

Steve kisses his daughter’s head. “Because if my daughter is also an omega, I don’t want her living in a world that treated the last of us that way.  I want her to be able to walk down the street and know that she’s safe.”  Bucky leans in, kissing Steve’s temple.  Steve leans into the gesture and it doesn’t go unnoticed by anyone in the room.

A surly looking alpha is next up. “If your daughter is an omega, what are your intentions?”  Steve and Bucky both look confused and the alpha smirks.  “Well, some families sold off their omegas for money.”

Bucky looks like he’s about to leap from the stage and rip the man to pieces and the other reporters back away from the man. But Steve puts his hand on Bucky’s arm, hands Sarah over to him, and walks to the edge of the platform.  The Avengers move forward to either help or to hold Steve back.  He glares down at the alpha reporter.  “Son, if you make a statement like that again, I’ll be forced to show you what we did to alphas like you back in my day.”

A young beta woman, sitting near the man, throws her hand into the air. Steve nods at her.  “What would you do to alphas like that in your day?”

Still staring the man down, Steve answers. “In my day, he would have been taken out and beaten within an inch of his life, ma’am.  That kind of talk could get a man killed.  Disrespect of an omega and their rights was not tolerated.”

The young timid man from earlier tears up and Steve sees it. Coming down off the platform, he goes to the man.  “Who was it?”

The man can barely speak he’s so overwhelmed that Captain America is asking him a question. He knows what Steve is asking, so he quietly responds.  “It was my great-great-grandfather.  He was rescued, but terrible things happened to him before his family could get to him.”

Steve embraces the young man. Going back on the platform, Steve addresses the room again.  “Ladies and gentlemen, this is why something has to change.  I can take care of myself, but my daughter deserves a world where she can have a good life without fear of abduction and worse.”

The questions go on from there, but when Jessica is called again by Pepper, she asks the one that even the Avengers want to know. “Steve, are you going to take up the mantle of Captain America again?”

Steve looks at Bucky, who leans in to kiss his omega. Looking back at the cameras.  “No, I’m not.  My husband, my daughter, and my pack are too important for me to put myself in that kind of danger.  I will be working as the Avengers tactical advisor, but I won’t go into the field anymore.”

That same mangy alpha from before speaks up. “Doesn’t that just make you what we all thought omegas were, a barefoot and pregnant prize?”  One of the alpha SHIELD agents grabs him by the throat and drags him out, growling something in his ear.  The man pales as he’s removed from the room and Fury follows them out.  Steve just walks off the stage with Bucky and Sarah.

Pepper makes sure that the reporters removed lose their access to Stark Tower. The last one she leaves to Fury before throwing him out permanently.  Bucky sits with Steve on the common floor, holding him while Sarah plays with the many toys from her extended family.  “Dumb fucking alpha asshole.” Steve laughs because Bucky’s been ranting pretty much since they boarded the lift.

“It was to be expected.” Pepper had warned him and he knew she was right.

“But it shouldn’t be expected, Steve. That would have never happened when we were kids.  People weren’t that disrespectful.”


	24. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hill makes a move.

A file is presented to Steve a few months later. He goes through it with Bucky and they come up with a plan to take out a terrorist cell in Eastern Europe.  Steve puts together a plan and presents it to the team.  Hill sits off to the side watching Bucky with Sarah.  Steve knows he’s paying attention, but he’s feeding Sarah apples pieces with peanut butter.  Every time he wants her to take a bite, he opens his mouth and she mimics him.  Steve looks at them with such devotion that Hill rumbles in her chest.  

When the meeting is over, she goes to Steve, offering an apology for her behavior when he was pregnant. Glancing over at Steve’s mate and daughter, who don’t seem to be paying attention, she smirks.

Steve, being the guy that he is, accepts the apology, but when she pulls him into her personal space and purrs at him, the room freezes. It’s a courting sound and Steve jumps away from her.  He isn’t afraid; he stunned that she would do that knowing he’s mated.  Bucky hands Sarah to Nat, who is looking at the situation incredulously.  Bucky gets her in a choke hold and pulls her away from his husband, growling low and threatening.  She returns the growl and fights his hold.  Just when it looks like it’s going to take a violent turn, Fury stuns her and Coulson drags her limp body out of the room. 

Steve has no idea what the hell could have made her do something like that. It isn’t until they are back on their own floor and Bucky puts Sarah down for a nap, and he’s pulled into Bucky’s lap that he has an idea it’s something more. 

Steve squawks, but lands right where Bucky wants him. He buries his face in Steve’s neck.  “You are not leaving this floor for the next several days.”

“What the hell, Buck?” Then it hits him.  “Oh hell…”

“That’s right. We’re going to need someone to watch Sarah.”  Bucky’s hands are all over his husband and Steve is getting to the point of not caring and definitely not fighting back.  “JARVIS, can you get Pepper and explain what’s going on?”

‘Ms. Potts is in a meeting, but I have alerted Ms. Romanoff.’

By the time Natasha arrives, Steve’s pheromones have tripled. “Oh jesus, what the hell Steve?”

Steve looks like a flushed, rumpled mess because of Bucky, but at least he’s still dressed. “Sorry Nat, it kinda snuck up on me.”

“I’m getting that poor kid out of here before she sees something she doesn’t need to see.” Bucky comes out of Sarah’s room with a bag and a sleeping baby. 

“Thanks Nat.” His eyes are blown and he’s breathing heavy.

“Have fun Barnes. Been awhile, huh?”  She takes Sarah and the bag and heads to the lift.

“That’s a fucking understatement.” As the doors close, Bucky scoops Steve up and carries him to the bedroom.  “We are not leaving the bed.  It’s been over 70 years since your last heat and I’m going to enjoy this, sweetheart.”  Steve just whines and nuzzles into Bucky’s neck.  “Fuck Stevie, I’m sorry, but this first one isn’t going to be gentle.”

Steve licks up the side of Bucky’s neck, making the ex-assassin shiver. “Don’t want it gentle.  Want it hard and rough.”  It’s Bucky’s turn to whine as he throws Steve onto the bed.


	25. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce does a very science-y thing.

Nat ends up in Bruce’s lab with Sarah, explaining what’s happened. “I’m not going to be able to go on this mission.”

Bruce smiles and takes Sarah. “Well, that’s alright, you can hang out here with me.  Sarah won’t mind.”  He looks at the little girl.  “Will you?” She puts her hands on Bruce’s cheeks and pushes them together making Bruce and Nat laugh.

Sarah goes back to sleep and Bruce puts her in his office in a cradle that Tony built. There are cradles all over the residential floors because no matter where the baby is, she’s to be comfortable and spoiled.  Nat is going through mission reports and Bruce is working on something too complicated for her to care about.  It’s been quiet for awhile when he finally speaks up.  “Nat, can I ask you something?”  She looks up quirking an eyebrow.  “And if I do, will you promise not to kill me?”

She chuckles. “What is it?”

“How did Hydra do it?” As a scientist, the fact that Hydra was able to change her sub-gender is fascinating.

She doesn’t speak for a few minutes and he thinks she’s mad. “I don’t really know.  There was a series of injections over a few weeks.  I went into heat and moved to the top of the class.”

“Would you…can…I was…”

Nat laughs. “You want to take some blood and tissue samples, don’t you?”

He nods. “But I would never do that if you weren’t okay with it.”  She rolls up her sleeve and opens her mouth.  “You’re sure?”

“I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t.” He takes the samples and begins analyzing what he has.  Since coming out to Steve and Bucky, she’s stopped wearing whatever homemade blockers she created and filling the residential floors of the Tower with pheromones of a second omega.  She never actually told the rest of the pack what she was made into by Hydra, but the first morning she walked into the kitchen, sans blockers, everyone had come to a complete stop, except Steve, Bucky and Sarah, who reached out for her aunt with a big smile.  No one said anything, just kept staring until Pepper finally swept her into a hug.  She wasn’t used to displays of affection like that, but welcomed it that morning.  Later that day when Peggy had come for dinner, she’d frozen after exiting the lift.

“Natalia Romanova, you’ve been keeping secrets.” Nat had cautiously walked over to the matriarch of their pack and been enveloped in the second hug of the day.  Peggy pulled back, brushing the hair from Nat’s face, and keeping her hands cupping the spy’s face, added a kiss to her forehead.  “We are a lucky pack to have two such strong omegas leading us.”  Nat had blushed, but nuzzled into the alpha’s neck.

 

Three days pass and Steve and Bucky finally rejoin the living. Both men look blissed out from their time together, but can’t wait to get their hands on their daughter.  The last day of Steve’s heat, Sarah had been fussy and nothing anyone did would calm her.  When she sees her daddies exit the lift, she begins to cry in earnest.

Bucky scoops her up, nuzzling her, while Steve rubs her back. “Aw Angel, it’s okay.”  Nothing that anyone says or offers tempts her from her daddies.

Putting her to bed that night, Steve snuggles into Bucky, kissing along his neck. “Buck?”

Bucky’s hand is absently running up and down Steve’s arm. “Yeah?”

“If I got pregnant again, would you be upset?”

Bucky bolts upright, looking down at Steve. “Are you…”

Steve laughs. “I’m not, but I was just wondering what you thought about more kids.”

Bucky lays back down, pulling Steve against him again. “I want a house full if you do.”  Steve hums and slips into sleep.

 

Bruce comes into Tony’s lab a few days after the team returns from the mission. Tony is making repairs to the suit with music blaring through the speakers.  JARVIS lowers the volume and Tony looks up to gripe about it.  Noticing Bruce, he puts the tools down.  “I’ve seen that look before.  What did you do?”

Bruce blushes and comes in, pouring a cup of tea. “I may have found something that might could possibly help some people.”  Neither man hear Pepper come in carrying a tray with lunch for Tony.  She stops when Bruce’s next words leave his mouth.  “I think I can replicate the serum that Hydra used on Nat.”  Tony drops into the chair at his desk.  “I think I can make a serum that will change betas into omegas.”

Tony just stares at his friend. “But…that’s…who…”

“The thing is, Tony, we’d have to test it and I don’t know anyone that would want to make that change.”

The voice from the door surprises both men. “I would.”


	26. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce explains the serum.

The team sits down a few weeks later, after Bruce has replicated the serum. He’s locked it safely away until they have this conversation.  Explaining the situation is a bit difficult, especially with Natasha looking at him with murder in her eyes.  “What were you thinking?”

Bruce has the decency to looks embarrassed, but doesn’t look away. “I was thinking that we could help society.  That we could help people build what we have here.”  He looks around and for the first time, they know that someone, besides Steve, is about to acknowledge what they are.  “We’ve built something here that I’ve only dreamed about.  We’ve built a pack and we couldn’t have done that without Steve.  The center of every pack is the omega members and I don’t know about any of you, but I wouldn’t trade what we have for anything, not even control of Hulk.”  Steve blushes and Bucky kisses him.

“How does this serum work, Dr. Banner?” Fury looks over at Steve and wonders how he feels about this, but the man is simply sitting on the floor with Sarah in his lap and Bucky wrapped around him from behind.

Bruce wrings his hands. “JARVIS can you project the file?”

‘Of course, Dr. Banner.’

The group looks at what’s displayed, but most of them don’t understand what they are looking at. The only two that seem to know are Tony and Pepper.  Bruce goes into long moments of science speak and Pepper clears her throat.  He blushes and changes tactics.  “Basically, what the serum does isn’t much different than Project Rebirth.  It bonds the omega genes to the DNA of the host and changes the body at a cellular level.  It would be painful, but permanent.”

There’s silence then Steve stands with Sarah and comes to the table. “The thing about all of this is you need a volunteer.  You can’t force anyone to do this.”  Bruce doesn’t say anything, but looks over at Pepper. Steve gets the implication of that look.  “Pepper?”

The table turns to the CEO of Stark Industries. “I want to do this.  And what better way to show the world what omegas can do than having, Black Widow, Captain America and the head of Stark Industries all being omegas.” 

Natasha reaches out, taking Pepper’s hand. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Pepper nods and looks at Bruce. “Tell them the rest.”

All heads turn to the nervous doctor. “It’s going to take a couple of weeks, with daily injections.  Pepper’s going to have to be quarantined during that time and no one can see her.”  He looks over at Tony.  “The only ones that won’t have an adverse affect on her during the process are Steve and Nat.”  He looks over at Steve.  “Probably Sarah would be okay too.”  Bruce looks at Nat.  “But you have to understand, if you start this process with Pepper, you can’t leave her.  You’d be locked in with her for the duration of the time.”  Nat looks uncomfortable, but then at Pepper and if this is what her pack needs, this is what she can do.

That night, Bucky holds Steve against him like he’s afraid he’ll disappear. Steve feels the anguish coming off his mate.  “What’s going on, Buck?”

There’s silence, but Steve knows he’s building up to whatever it is. “Why do you think Pepper’s doing this?”

Steve, pillowed on Bucky’s chest, draws lazy patterns. “I don’t really know.”

“Can you get her to tell you before all this starts?” Steve nods.  “I’m just worried about her.”

Steve leans up on his elbow, looking down into sparkling, ice-blue eyes. “I love you so damn much.”  Bucky surges with confusion.  “You worry about all of them, just like you did back then with the Commandos.”  A soft, warm feeling floods the bond.  Steve gets up, straddling Bucky’s hips.  “Is there anything I can do to take your mind off all this for a little while?”

Bucky winks up at him. “I can think of a thing or two.”  Steve slides down his body.  “Oh sweetheart, you read my mind.”


	27. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Pepper talk

Steve asks Pepper to join him for lunch the next day. She exits the lift, knowing what this impromptu lunch is about.  Steve has Sarah in her highchair and is sitting the plates on the table.  He had asked Nat to join them, but she had declined, saying that Pepper would probably open up to Steve faster than anyone else.  Sarah smiles up at her and she leans in to kiss her brown curls.  Before Pepper can sit, Steve envelopes her in a hug.  “I just want to hear your side of this.  No judgment and no trying to talk you out of it, I just want to understand.”

He feels her release tension all through her body. “Thank you.”

They eat and talk to Sarah for a little while, until Steve gives her the look. Pepper caves and spills her thoughts.  “I want what you and Bucky have.  I want what my great-grandmother had.  I want that with Tony and before you say anything, I know, in my heart that he’s my mate.”

Steve smiles and takes her hand. “That’s all I wanted to know.”  The conversation doesn’t stop there.  Steve asks about the quarantine and Pepper explains it the way that Bruce had with her and Tony.

“Once the injections start, there’s going to be a lot of pain.” Steve doesn’t look happy about that.  “But with you and Nat and the pheromones that you’ll give off, it will settle the process.  If Tony or another alpha were to be in the room, they wouldn’t give off anything but protect and fix pheromones.  My body needs to be in a certain state of calm for this to work and not have my body fight it.”  Steve nods.  “Tony doesn’t like this part of it, but he’s willing to do what I want.”

After lunch Steve puts Sarah down for a nap and sits on the balcony with Pepper. “When do you want to start this?”

“Tomorrow.” Pepper stares out at the city skyline knowing that Steve is staring at her.  “I’ve put everything in order in the office and Tony is going to step in for a couple of weeks and run things.  I made everything as clear as I could.  I’d swear that he’s never actually run a company with all the questions he asked.”  Steve barks a laugh.

That evening Tony comes down. He looks uncertain and that’s definitely a new look.  Steve comes out of the kitchen.  “Tony?”

The man looks up and Steve makes a point to release calming pheromones into the room. The man’s shoulders relax after a minute.  “Is the princess still up?”  Steve shakes his head.  “Oh…well…that’s probably for the best.”  He puts his hands behind his back, trying to look confident.  “Can we talk?”

Bucky looks out of the bedroom, where he was just getting out of the shower, and Steve gives him a nod. He goes back into the bedroom, closing the door.  “Talk to me.”

It takes a few minutes for Tony to figure out how he wants to say it, then goes with straightforwardness. “I’m scared shitless, Steve.”  He flops onto the sofa.

Steve slids down the sofa, leans back putting an arm around Tony, and pulling him back to relax. “I’m not going to leave her during any of this.  Nothing will happen to her.  I won’t let it.”

“I’m scared for other reasons too.” Steve hums.  “What if…what if she doesn’t love me after?”

Steve barks a laugh. “That’s impossible.  The way she loves you now is as close to a true mate bond as I’ve ever seen.” Tony relaxes even further.  “Don’t worry.  It’s all going to be okay and she’s going to be happier.”  He doesn’t tell Tony about Pepper’s conversation with him that afternoon.  That’s between them and when it’s all over, Tony will know what it means to be loved by an omega.


	28. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The injections and bonding between omegas

The floor above Tony’s lab has a series of apartments for guests. None of them are used because the people that would come to stay are the Avengers and they each have their own floor now, so they pick the apartment the furthest from everything and clean it top to bottom of anything that might smell like alpha or beta.  Meaning the cleaning crew all have to wear special suits.  Once they are done, Nat and Steve make a walk through and give it the okay.

Once the floor is given their okay, Steve and Nat can’t leave, they have to keep the neutral scent where it is. He asks JARVIS to contact Bucky.  Bucky sits on the floor of their living room with Sarah, while she builds a tower with blocks.  “I take it everything checked out?”

Steve sighs. “I didn’t think they’d get it right on the first try, but yeah, it’s done.  Nat and I are staying here and the cleaners are bringing up the supplies we asked for.”

Bucky hangs his head. “I thought I could at least get one more kiss out of you, but you’re doing something important.”

“Buck?” Bucky looks up.  “I’ve never loved anyone but you.  I’ve never wanted anyone but you.  You’ve been my life and the center of my world.”

“Steve?” Bucky doesn’t understand where all this is coming from.

“I just want you to know how much you mean to me and it seems dumb that I don’t tell you every day.”

Bucky smiles. “You’re the love of a lifetime, Stevie, but in our case, we got two.”  Steve blushes as the block tower falls over and a tiny ‘uh oh’ happens behind Bucky.  Bucky turns to see Sarah with her hands over her mouth.  “Oh no, did it fall?”  She nods up at her papa.  “Well, we’ll just have to rebuild it.”  He hands her a block.  “Here you go, princess.”  She grins and takes the block.  Turning back to the screen.  “Don’t work about us, just take care of Pepper.”

Steve brings in every blanket, quilt and pillow that he can find and washes everything in a neutralizing detergent. He and Nat shower using a neutral body wash that doesn’t cover their natural scent and put on pajamas that have been washed as well.  Bruce, through JARVIS, instruct the two on how to give the injections and where, then Pepper is brought in.  She’s also in pajamas and looks nervous.  Nat smirks at the Iron Man pajama pants.  Pepper just shrugs. 

“If you don’t want to do this, we would understand.” Nat scent is even and relaxed.

Pepper shakes her head. “This is what I want.”

Steve comes forward with the first injections. “Okay then, let’s get started.”

Three days have passed and Nat took over the injections because Steve had to take over nest building. Nat wasn’t a born omega, so she didn’t know what Steve meant by making a den for them.  Pepper is in the nest, cuddled into Steve, whimpering occasionally from pain.  Nat comes in, joining them with food and water.  Sitting the food down, she’s grabbed by Pepper and pulled close.

Steve is surprised by how gentle Nat is with Pepper. Brushing the strawberry blond hair away from Pepper’s face, Nat leans in kissing Pepper’s forehead.  “Ssssshhhh sweetheart, it’s going to be okay.”  She picks up the food.  “We do need you to eat something though.”  Pepper shakes her head.

Steve sits up, pulling Pepper into his lab. “Just a few bites of something, please?”  To this she nods.  The first few days she still talked, but by the morning of the third day, words seemed to be too hard.  Well spoken Pepper Potts went silent and burrowed into the nest.  Steve and Nat just accepted it as part of her coping.

The end of the first week, Steve sits with Pepper in his lap and Nat cuddled into his side. He’s just talking about nonsense, but both women seem to be listening intently.  “So when I was about 12 my ma took me aside, I think it was just after Christmas, and talked to me about not mating with Bucky.  I didn’t know until later she had the same conversation with him a few years later.”  He remembers the worry and care that his ma tried to talk to him about something so delicate.  Sniffling, he continues.  “She tried to explain without bring up the fact that I was supposed to die.  About a week later, I got the flu and that turned into pneumonia.  I almost died that winter, but Bucky sat with me and wouldn’t let me go.”  He sniffles again.  “In one of my more lucid moments with the fever, he told me that if I leave him, he’d have to follow me.  I honestly think I pulled through because I didn’t want him to die.”

“Steve?” He hums for Nat to continue.  “What is it like?”  He looks down and cocks his head to the side.  “I mean I know what you told us at the beginning, but what’s that moment like: bonding to someone?”

He pulls his lips into a line, thinking about the question. “You know when you have an epiphany?  It’s like that, but bigger.”

Nat laughs and a small chuckle comes from Pepper. “You’re shit at explaining this.”

Steve laughs too. “I know, I’m sorry.”  He weighs his next words, not wanting to be too descriptive, but then deciding that there are two and a half omegas in the room and he’s the only one that’s bonded.  “I don’t want to say too much in case you don’t want to know certain things.”

“Given our current situation, I don’t think you can say too much.” Pepper nods at Nat’s words.

“Okay then, I’d had sex with Bucky before I presented.” Nat snorts.  “Yeah, yeah, just shut up Romanoff.  But when I did present that pull that we had always felt was undeniable.  It was all I could feel for days then on my 16th birthday, ma was called into the hospital and I was alone.  Bucky came over and he took one sniff and…well, it got heated really quick.  He kept asking though, over and over, if I was sure.  I finally smacked him in the head and he got the point.”

“Barnes strikes me as the type that needs a good smack to get him started.” Both Steve and Pepper laugh.

“Yeah, he can sometimes be too self-sacrificing when it comes to me.” Steve pulls both women closer.    “There’s a point in the mating when instincts take over.  The pull from before becomes an imperative.”  He clears his throat in embarrassment.  “That night, when we were…together…he yanked my head aside and bit down.  No matter how much pleasure you’ve felt before, that moment is like an overload.  I blacked out from it.  When I came to, I could feel how much he loved me.  It wasn’t just my feelings anymore, it was his too.”  Pepper grunts in question.  “Take all the love you feel for Tony and imagine being able to feel that, plus how much he loves you.  That’s what it’s like all the time.”

Steve looks down at Nat, who looks like she’s going to say something, but changed her mind. It’s quiet for awhile when she finally does speak in a voice so small it goes against everything Steve knows about her.  “Steve, is it possible for an omega to have that with someone other than an alpha?”

She doesn’t looks up, but he suspects she knows that he’s smiling and Steve can feel Pepper smiling against his neck. “Yes Nat, it’s possible for an omega to have this same bond with a beta.”  He sighs.  “It’s sad that alphas and betas can’t make that kind of bond, but that’s just the way of things.  Omegas are the foundation of bonds and packs.”

At the beginning of the second week, the pain is intense and sometimes hot showers help. During those showers, when Nat is with her, Steve has JARVIS connect him to the rest of the pack.  Everyone is on pins and needles.  Steve’s exhausted and it shows.  Bucky holds Sarah so she can see daddy, Tony looks like he’s about to come out of his own skin, Peggy could be biting her nails for how nervous she looks, Bruce is wringing his hands, and Clint, Coulson and Fury don’t look like they’ve slept in days.  “Hey everyone.”

“Baby, you look terrible.” Bucky reaches toward the screen.

“I don’t look half as bad as Pepper.” Tony looks like he’s close to losing it.  “She’s in pain, but I’ve never seen anyone so determined.”

“Is she okay? Tell me she’s okay, Steve.”  Tony does have tears now.

“She’s okay. Nat is helping her in the shower.  The hot water helps.”  He cuts his eyes to Bucky, who is looking more and more concerned.  Throughout all of this, Steve has been able to feel the resignation, the love, and the worry bleeding through the bond.  He’s sure that Bucky’s been feeling all the warring emotions running through Steve over this situation.  They share a look and Steve pushes all of his love at his husband.  Bucky closes his eyes returning it two-fold to Steve.

“How’s Nat holding up?” Clint knows his friend and she doesn’t do well with too many feelings.

Steve smiles. “To be honest, I was worried, but she’s been amazing.”  Clint sniffles.

“Steven, can you tell if it’s working? I don’t want Pepper going through this if it doesn’t.”  Peggy was beside herself when she found out what this was all about.

There’s a noise behind Steve and he turns to see Pepper and Nat coming back into the room. Pepper looks tired and crawls back into the nest, cuddling with a pillow.  Nat quirks an eyebrow at Steve, who cocks his head to the side like he’s asking what’s up, then _it_ hits him.  They have four more days, but if what he’s smelling is what it seems like, it’s working like gang-busters.  He turns back to the screen with a wide grin.  “I think it is.”  He says a goodbye to everyone, with an I love you to Bucky and Sarah.

Four days later they give Pepper the last injection. She groans, but like always doesn’t put up any kind of fuss.  After getting her to eat breakfast, they cuddle in the nest and watch videos that JARVIS plays of the rest of the pack.  They are out by the pool and everyone is playing an insane game of Marco Polo.  Clint keeps winning because with the lack of vision, he relies on his other senses, heightened by a life of almost total deafness.  Sarah sits in Bucky’s lap on the pool stairs, clapping and laughing.  Peggy lounges in a chair to the side of the pool waving off any attempt to get her in the water.

Pepper sighs. “I want to be out there with them.”

It is the first coherent sentence she’s spoken in over a week. Steve rubs up and down her back and Nat puts an arm around her.  “I know Pepper, but if we get the go ahead from Bruce tomorrow morning we can go join them.”  Steve looks at Nat over Pepper’s shoulder and nods.  Nat sends a quick message to the pack to ask them to prepare for a pool party if things go well.

“You know how much I love you two for doing this for me. I know it hasn’t been easy, but…”

She doesn’t get the chance to finish because Nat snuggles closer, holding her tighter and Steve kisses her forehead. “There’s nowhere else we’d rather be right now.”

The following morning, Steve and Nat wake to the sound of pans and the smell of bacon. Getting up, they find Pepper in the kitchen cooking.  She looks up smiling.  She looks better than she has in the last week.  Steve takes a deep breath and the fluctuating scent for the last two weeks has become the soft, mellow essence of an omega.  Steve goes to her, twists his head to the side in question.  “May I?”  She nods furiously.  Steve leans in to scent her, like he’s done before as pack, but this time he’s not just scenting pack, he scenting for a fellow omega.  The fragrance coming from her bonding gland is so Pepper: subtle, rich, understated, but completely omega.  “How do you feel?”

Her smile is luminescent. “Like I could take on the world.”  She leans into him again, reaching out for Nat, who comes over, wrapping her arms around the taller woman.  “Why didn’t either of you tell me?”

Steve chuckles and is joined by Nat’s quiet giggle. “You wouldn’t have believed us if we told you.”  Steve adds a nod in affirmation.  Nat continues.  “To tell someone that’s grown up in a society with nothing but alphas and betas, that being an omega is powerful in ways that only another omega can understand.  It wouldn’t make sense.”

Pepper laughs. “I literally feel like I could take over the world.”  After breakfast, Steve and Nat get cleaned up, Pepper talks with Bruce, and they take the lift to the common floor where JARVIS has instructed everyone to wait.


	29. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pack comes back together

Tony stands off by the windows, afraid of what this might mean. Bucky had assured him repeatedly that it was all going to be okay, but the billionaire still had doubts that he would be good enough for Pepper now.  The lift doors open and Bruce moves forward first, taking scans and smiling deliriously.  “It worked.” 

Pepper hugs him mumbling for only him to hear. “Thank you.  You don’t know how much this means to me.”

As much as everyone wants to go to her, with hugs and words of comfort and encouragement, they all seem to know what she needs. Stepping aside, she looks over at Tony, still too far away for Pepper’s liking.  When she steps toward him and her scent envelopes him, he feels it.  Pepper has known, but Tony hasn’t been sure.  He can’t keep still after and moves to her hurriedly.  Taking her hands, Tony looks into her eyes.  “Did you know?”

She blushes, looking at the ground, but nods. “Yeah, I knew.”

“What does this mean?” Tony looks over her shoulder to Steve and Bucky, who are wrapped up in each other, but with an eye on the proceedings. 

Pepper cups Tony’s face. “It means we belong to each other.  We always have, but now we can feel it and if you want…”

Before she can finish, Tony answers her. “Yeah, I want.  I want right now, but we don’t…”

It’s her turn to interrupt. “Yes, right now.  We’ve waited long enough Tony.”

Bucky snickers like he knows what’s happening and Steve buried his face in his husband’s neck. “That didn’t take long.”

Bucky snorts. “True mates.”  Then he shrugs.

 

After two weeks away from each other, the pack needs time together. Pepper and Tony disappear for most of the day, but will join everyone for dinner.  Bucky hasn’t left Steve’s side all day and even when Steve starts cooking dinner, He sits on the bar, with Sarah in his lap.  Clint comes in with Bruce while Bucky has Sarah by her hands, lowering her to the floor and letting her stand on the ground, then pulling her back up to kiss her belly.  Steve watches while he cooks, laughing at her incessant giggles.  Bucky is the perfect dad and Steve looks at him with a sappy smile causing Clint to bump his shoulder.  “Your love-sickness is showing.”

Steve barks a laugh. “Like it’s anything new.”  Clint snorts and starts making a salad.

Bruce comes over to cut the loaf of bread for garlic toast. He watches, with longing on his face.  Nat walks in, tickling Sarah from behind and Bruce watches in the same love-sick way Steve had watched Bucky a few minutes ago.  The difference between an alpha/omega mating and a beta/omega mating is that sometimes the beta doesn’t recognize what’s happening.  In this case, Nat knows what’s going on, but Bruce hasn’t picked up on it yet.  She looks at Steve, who smirks at her and nods towards the oblivious beta.  Nat blushes, but goes to ‘help’ Bruce with the garlic cloves.  “Need some help?”

Bruce looks up nervous. “Oh…uh…yeah.”  Nat stands next to him, shoulder to shoulder, peeling garlic cloves and talking to him quietly.  The rest of the kitchen can’t hear them, but they covertly watch.  Even Clint, who has always wanted Nat to have what he has, smiles over at Steve. 

When everyone arrives for dinner, Pepper and Tony finally make their appearance. She looks smug and Tony looks glassy eyed.  Steve expected him to look smug, but instead he looks like he’s dazed and only half aware.  When Peggy grins and asks him if he’s okay, he doesn’t answer because he hasn’t been able to take his eyes off Pepper.  Peggy goes to him, cupping his cheek.  “Anthony?”

“Huh…what…” Pepper looks over at him and he practically melts into the floor.  “She’s always been beautiful, but she’s glowing.  Don’t you think she’s glowing?”  Before Peggy can answer, he’s wandering over to where Pepper is holding Sarah on her hip, feeding her a piece of bread.

Bucky watches Tony’s reactions to things and remembers being 17 and having just mated Steve. Tony doesn’t look much different.  He knows the dazed, glassy look will fade after a few days, but the devotion won’t.  Steve comes over, wrapping his arms around Bucky from behind.  “I remember that look.”  Bucky chuckles.  “I remember thinking I could ask you for anything and you’d have made it happen.  I had complete control over you for a few days.”

Bucky leans back into Steve. “Yes, you did and I would have laid the world at your feet if you’d asked.”

“I didn’t want to world. I just wanted you.”  Steve kisses the bond mark on Bucky’s shoulder. 

Bucky hums. “You had me from the minute I met you.”


End file.
